Your Daily Caffeine Fix
by Lovebites and Popcorn
Summary: It all starts with Axel and Cloud working at the local coffee bar. Their boss is an ass and they get their fair share of nasty customers. Throw in a handful of new co-workers and a few gorgeous regulars and what do you get? — AkuRoku, Cleon, Zemyx, SoRiku
1. Chapter 1: CAFFEINE FIXATION

**Your Daily Caffeine Fix**

_It all starts with Axel and Cloud working at the local coffee bar. Their boss is an ass and they get their fair share of nasty customers. Throw in a handful of new co-workers and a few gorgeous regulars and what do you get? Akuroku, Cleon, Soriku, Zemyx. _

* * *

'_Maybe we'll live and learn; maybe we'll crash and burn.  
__Or maybe we all just need some damn coffee in our system.'  
__**This is dedicated to my Peachy Lady.**_

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Caffeine Fixation**

**Caffeine:** _(noun)_ a bitter alkaloid found in coffee and tea that is responsible for their energizing stimulation.  
**Fixation: **_(noun)_ an unhealthy, compulsive and addictive obsession with something or someone.  
**Caffeine Fixation:** _(noun)_ the name of a well-hidden, high-end coffee bar that sells excellent caffeinated products to not-so-respectable customers and casual second year university kids. It customarily rivals against the competing Starbucks situated two blocks down the street. Regulars call the place 'The Fix'.

"_**This is so Totally Not a Prologue. I am so Totally Not a Liar."**_

Monday mornings were a chore. A painful, excruciating, agonising, tormenting, horrible, horrible, _horrible_ chore. No, I don't think you quite get the picture. If there was a single person in this world who remotely exhibited some form of fondness for Mondays, they should really be shot in the kneecaps. Repeatedly. I say again: Monday mornings were a chore. And if that weren't enough, it was utterly blown up by the fact that it was the middle of summer and that ridiculously stupid, evil, yellow, spherical ball of burning gas in the sky they called _The Sun_ was happily glaring down on everyone on the streets in cheery disposition as though unashamedly mocking them from its heavenly pedestal in the sky. Mister Sun was one morbid son of a nebula for making a hobby out of baking people alive. Mister Sun sorely needed to implode. Smug bastard.

Oh yeah, something about a swelteringly hot Monday morning seemed to rub Cloud Strife the wrong way. They always successfully managed to get under his skin like no other day of the week. He believed that Mondays in general deserved to go to hell so that Sunday could take over. Forever.

The sapphire-eyed blond had all but dragged himself out from under the covers of his comfy bed with a great deal of willpower, groaning sleepily, then almost dying on the spot when he glanced at his digital alarm clock – _07:32? WHAT THE FUCK?_ – saw that The Accursed Sun was high up in the sky, and realised with rapidly growing horror and dread that he was meant to be down at the coffee bar in something like negative thirty-two minutes and twenty seconds.

_Oh, crapcrapcrap! GODAMMIT! _

And at that precise moment, the poor guy was regretting having gone to bed at 4 A.M. in the morning. But dammit, the addictive power of MSN compelled all! Bloody internet. Bloody MSN Messenger. Bloody computer.

Cloud clambered out of his too-small-for-a-grown-man bed hastily, entangling himself among the mess of sheets and gracelessly falling off the edge of the bed altogether with a painful-sounding thud. His face got acquainted with the floor.

No. This was not the first time this has ever happened to the Strife.

It was probably not going to be the last either.

"Ngeh-" Splutter, choke, cough. "Bleh." Evidently, Cloud was never very coherent in the early moments of post-awakening. "No. No, no, nononono_no_, FUCKING HELL."

Wait. I take that back.

"OH HELL NO. HEEEELL _NO_."

The blond blearily picked himself off the ground, screamed, cursed, yelled, ran around his bedroom erratically, rooted through his wardrobe like a human tornado on strike, thrown on his usual attire for work haphazardly, gone through half a bottle of _Square's Double Strength Hair Gel_ semi-impeccably, eaten half a leftover bagel, and practically flew out of his apartment with just one shoe on. He bypassed the usual three blocks of flats, dashed down Sundown Avenue (spewing forth vulgarities and expletives at an alarming rate with loud vigour), narrowly avoided being run over by some dude on a skateboard, and finally burst into Caffeine Fixation, panting and wheezing and almost keeling over like he were suffering from heart failure. Which he probably was.

Late. Again.

Goddammit. Leon was _so_ going gut him with a fork, pluck his eyeballs out with his car keys, murder him with a kettle full of boiling water and yell at him till his ears bled with his brain juice. All in that precise order. Okay, no, seriously, Leon wasn't the type to do that. Cloud knew this. The blond knew this all too damn well. But that was what made it all the more worse, and it was fucking frustrating. The boss man would just fix him with that level stare of his and no, he would _not_ reprimand him, but just _tell_ him. In that drawling, unfeeling, remorseless, deadened, I-Am-Your-Superior-You-Asshole voice that made Cloud's insides want to shrivel up and die from the damned frigidity.

In all truthfulness, Cloud preferred to be gutted by forks, blinded by keys, murdered by kettles and yelled at till his brains melted instead, really. It was a hell of a lot better than enduring Mister Youruglyface (first name: I_really_hate).

He glanced around the bar tentatively. Cloud, I mean. Yeah, Cloud glanced around the bar tentatively.

It was devoid of customers, but that was usually the case at this time in the morning. The Fix was generally a well-kept secret from most people. It was a semi-posh café. But hey, Leon never liked to call it a 'café'. For some God Only Knows reason, he preferred the term 'coffee bar'. They served the _best_ coffee in all of Twilight Metropolis (or at least that's what Axel liked to think, but we'll get to our pretty redhead later). The bar supplied anything with caffeine in it. You name it, they've got it. They also sold lemonade, Red Bull and diet sodas. But who cared about that? No one walked into coffee bars to order a damn soda. Anyways, _Caffeine Fixation_ (a.k.a. _The Fix_) was well-hidden from the general crowd. Those who knew the place were reputable folks. Very rich people who liked tolerable coffee.

Well, okay. Not _really_. That was a total lie.

The frequent customers were usually punks from the university across town who came in groups of twos or threes or sevens, or people who had generally nothing better to do but sample the coffee from this place for the sole purpose of comparing it to the exalted Starbucks two blocks away. It was pretty normal for the bar to be quiet and empty at this hour. So, it wasn't that Cloud was looking around for customers. He was looking for the boss.

He heaved a sigh of relief when he couldn't find Leon anywhere.

This was a good thing. Maybe… _maybe_ if he just scrambled behind the counter right this moment, played around with the coffee machine or the cash register or _something_, and _pretended_ he'd been there all along… Maybe…

"Late again, Strife?"

Cloud cursed wildly within the mental recesses of his brain and glared at his boss/manager, who had just emerged from the doorway that led to the kitchen from behind the counter. Leon, in the flesh, took a few steps forward and leant against the countertop divider, giving Cloud one of those deadpan faces. That very expression of Leon's was special. To anyone else, it would've seemed like a normal straight-faced stare. Cloud knew better. It was Leon's _Angry Face._ It had the _100 Percent Leon Approved 'This Is My Angry Face!' Stamp_ stamped all over it.

"Late? Axel, that stupid redhead, isn't even here yet damn it!" Cloud exclaimed, trying (in vain) to defend himself. He failed miserably.

"Uh, hello? Yeah, I am." The said stupid redhead emerged from the kitchen after their manager and waved at the blond with two fingers raised. "I had to open up this morning, remember?" he reminded with a smirk. "_You_ were supposed to be here fifty minutes ago to hand me the spare. When you pulled a no-show, I had to call boss man here to come in early cuz I knew you slept in and I had no idea what time you were gonna get your ass down here."

"But… But…" Cloud just _had_ to sputter indignantly like a defensive child guilty of stealing the cookies from the cookie jar (plus the jar itself).

Leon made a disapproving noise. "Strife, don't try playing dumb with me. I already gave you one hell of a warning last week. You _know_ what I said, unless the words didn't register in that minuscule brain of yours. One more late morning and-"

"You'll cut my lousy salary by twenty-nine point seven percent, yeah yeah, I know." Cloud glowered sulkily, indolently trudging his way towards his two colleagues and joining them behind the counter.

"Exactly. You're lucky we haven't had any customers yet. Last warning, Strife. _Last one._" Leon glared. "Now go find another shoe and _get to work_."

Cloud gaped in fury as his boss turned on his heel and walked back into the kitchens, sidestepping an amused Axel in the process.

Yeah, something about a swelteringly hot Monday morning seemed to get under Cloud Strife's skin. And that _something_ was Squall 'Leon' Leonhart. He was the hotshot owner of Caffeine Fixation, the stupid boss of Axel Onér and Cloud Strife. And oh, he was also real good at being a major asshole.

Before we go any further, I guess I should introduce you to our unhappy blond. He will, after all, be one of our main protagonists at _The Fix_.

As you already know, he was named after those picturesque, white wisps of condensed water droplets in the sky.

Cloud Strife. 22. He was graced with moderate good-looks, a mess of golden spiky hair, crystal blue eyes, and a lean-but-slightly-muscular physique. Really, for a young man his age with such striking features, it was a wonder he didn't already have a girlfriend. I mean, come on! With that chiselled jaw and that perfect nose! It was such a waste, really. Anyway, at age 20, Mr Strife had promptly dropped out of university as soon as he realised that a major in psychology wasn't what he really needed in life. Actually, psychology was really screwing his brains over, so he decided to stop studying forever just in case his mind imploded due to an overdose of psychosomatic crack that was being fed to him. Okay, fine. No. The _real_ reason he ceased his education was because, firstly, some cheap punk _stole_ his one and only love, _Fenrir_, (which he'd parked right in front of the university's goddamn _Law Faculty_ for chrissakes!) during the start of his second year at university, and secondly, he was running pretty low in the financial department.

He figured what he really needed was a good, semi-decent paid job that helped him survive out there in the cold, harsh reality of this modern era full of rocker emo kids, plastic Barbie hookers and expensive fast food. He didn't need to know how or why a person thinks the way he does. A degree in psychology? Pfft. Like he's so totally gonna need something like _that_.

Cloud had known Axel for awhile. They'd met back in the old days during those godawful high school years, but they weren't terribly close. In this reality, however, Cloud considered Axel to be somewhat of a pal (a buddy, a chum, an ally, a comrade, et cetera). Or at least he considered the redhead his main source of entertainment and companionship within the confines of The Fix_._ Same difference.

Well, and who might this charismatic crimson-haired guy be, anyways?

Allow me to introduce him to you.

Axel Onér. 23. Well, 24 in three weeks. But no one generally cared about his birthday. This dude was as unpredictable as the weather and often impulsive, reckless, loud, self-confident, brash… you get the picture. And he was also, well, maybe just a tad on the eccentric side. He just wasn't _normal_. Well, if his oddly-placed tattoos and wild mop of blood-red hair (that stuck out in so many odd angles that his head resembled a damn broomstick) didn't tell you anything about his character, his obsessive habit of openly flirting with anything and everything on two legs would surely indicate his screwy (ha ha ha) personality. And _nobody_, godammit, _nobody_ could have eyes that were _that_ green. The man was not _normal_.

Axel knew Leon when they went to university together. They met when they were just 18. Bachelor of Biological Sciences. Year One. They became (somewhat) friends on their first day. It was a pity Axel was thrown out in the span of two days following enrolment. He blew up one of the science labs. Apparently he misread (read: ignored) the warning signs on the doors regarding carrying flammable items into the premises. How in the hell was he supposed to know that his cigarette lighter would ultimately be the cause of the laboratory's untimely demise?

Strangely enough, the redhead had remained Leon's pal ever since.

Ah yes, Leon. There was a lot to know about this young man's back story.

Squall Leonhart. 23 five months ago. He preferred the pseudonym 'Leon' seeing as the kids back in high school used to laugh at his bona fide name. "What the hell kind of name is _Squall_?" they would say, pointing and giggling behind his unturned back. Yeah, so he took up a more manly identity and christened himself after his last name. He could've come up with something more imaginative and original. But noooo, he had to name himself after his _last name_. Leon wasn't always known for his creativity.

At 17, the then-unemployed individual graduated from Sunset High and enrolled himself at the local university. There, he met the Obnoxious But Strangely Charming Redhead, who went by the name of Axel Onér. They were both doing the same degree, it seemed. That was, until Axel got the boot.

And so, Leon was left to graduate with his bachelor degree in Bio Science without the redhead friend he had made on day one. To be honest, once attained, Leon didn't know what the hell he was going to do with such a degree. He was stumped. He believed it was the end of the road for him… But, at age 23, his dad got him to take over their family coffee bar. Laguna claimed he was much too old to stay in the business. "Son," he announced one day with a huge-ass smile on his face, "I'm handing over the reigns of the Caffeine Fixation bar to you!"

And that was how it all started.

When the original staff quit (they claimed Leon was _nothing_ like his kindly old pops), the poor guy had to go off in search of a new crew to help him mend the bar. The first person he went to was Axel.

"Hey, Ax. You lookin' for a job?"

Axel, ever-searching for employment since being kicked out of uni, was more than happy to work for the Leonhart.

Leon managed to hire two others, Larxene and Xigbar. But then Larxene declared Caffeine Fixation to be 'a fucking _hole in the ground_' and left shortly after employment. Xigbar got arrested for selling marijuana on the streets and never came back to work. So the bar was pretty underhanded for a few weeks following that. Leon was distraught. But luckily for the desperado, Axel knew of a friend who was looking for a full-time job.

Cue Cloud Strife. The young man was always in need of some form of cash to survive. Cloud never came from a good family. He moved out as soon as he was old enough. Prior to his permanent placement at The Fix, he'd been doing odd jobs in order to earn enough to feed himself and keep the water and electricity running in his dingy one-room flat. But he was getting tired of babysitting and toilet cleaning. Selling coffee at a classy café seemed like a nice change. Following his resignation from university, the blonde had agreed to work as soon as Axel sought him out.

Except, when Cloud finally met his boss, he immediately decided that he didn't like him. Not one bit.

The only thing that really held him back from stabbing Leon in the eye with a spork was that he was _The Boss_ _Man_. The only thing holding him back from _quitting_ and never seeing said boss ever again was the fact that the pay was pretty darn good. And the job wasn't _that_ bad. It just included the extra effort of enduring Mister Arrogant Bastard With The Smug I-Totally-Own-You-And-Your-Mom Face. Also, on the plus side, working alongside Axel could be pretty amusing and interesting sometimes.

Back to the matter at hand, Cloud was muttering something about dead lions, bloodied hearts and bitchy supervisors.

"Is he gone yet?" the blond finally whispered lowly to Axel.

The redhead looked back to check the kitchen doorway. "Yeah. Think he went out the back door to make a call."

Cloud let out a sigh of relief. One day, he was pretty sure Leon would drive him mad and be the definite cause of his sad death. One day. The damned guy was always breathing down his neck and watching him like a hawk that wanted to scratch his eyes out (or a vulture that wanted to eat him whole).

_Whoa. Bad thoughts. Yuck. Ew._

Cloud shook his head in disgust and looked up just in time to see their first customer of the day step into the bar through the glass doors. He heaved a dismal sigh and proceeded to the front of the counter.

_Welcome to The Fix. May I take your goddamn order, you fag with the pink 'do?_

And so, the day began, like it always had for the past six months.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Yep, horribly short, I know. But I guess that's usually how prologues are. I suppose. Future chapters following this one will be much, much, much longer. Hopefully._

_Review? :)_


	2. Chapter 2: DOUBLE ESPRESSO

_**Author's Note: **__Okay, after one fluffy drabble and one angsty one-shot, I've returned to post chapter two of YDCF. Since I'm feeling generous today, here are a few personal review responses:_

_**p3achy:**__ The sun rises at pretty odd times where I live (Australia), depending on the time of the year. There's a difference between sunrise/sunset timings when you compare Summer to Winter. It gets annoying. Haha. Anyway, thanks for reviewing. Not that you have to. This fic is dedicated to you, after all.  
__**SweetNeurose: **__Thanks for the review! It was constructive and very pleasant. Just the way I like them. :) Mmm, I agree that Cloud's character is a tad OOC. But this is an AU setting, so I suppose we could bend the rules a little. :D And like you said, it makes him seem more human compared to his game counterpart.  
__**obsidian dusk:**__ Aw. Yeah, Monday mornings are yuck. Every weekday is technically… yuck. Heh. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you did the first! :)  
__**Geesesaymoo:**__ Caffeine is life! It runs through my bloodstream. :D Thanks for reviewing. I know you've read some of my other stuff too. Great to see that you approve of my writing! Hee.  
__**xWhisperWolfx:**__ (Hugs) Just so you know, I love getting reviews from you. They're all incredibly in-depth and constructive. :) Yeah, I'm finally writing for the humour genre! I'm usually one for angst, but let's see where my attempt at humour leads us…  
__**Kirah Ruth: **__Axel's point-of-view coming right up! :) Yeah, I totally get what you mean in your review when you mentioned that you thought it was his (Axel's) POV in the beginning of chapter one. Turned out to be Cloud, though. Hee. Thanks for the review, and hope you enjoy reading this chapter!  
__**casaragi, Japaneserockergirl, 321, secretsuperstar1234, 13loves8loves9loves6:**__ THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS, GUYS! (Hands all of you cookies and milk)._

_Onward to the fic! Warning(s): Parenthesis abuse._

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Double Espresso**

**Double:** _(adj.) _Twice as much in size, strength, number, quantity or amount.  
**Espresso: **_(noun)_ A strong coffee prepared by forcing steam under pressure through ground dark-roast coffee beans.  
**Double Espresso:** _(noun)_ One of the many beverages that Sora Vaïve should never be given under any circumstances.

"_**And the Cat and Mouse Game Begins"**_

_Tink-a-clink-a-link._

Axel counted to something like two thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine (he knew it was some odd number bigger than ninety (he wasn't that big on counting)) before the first caffeine-seeking customer stepped into the bar. Yeah well, Tuesdays were always ridiculously slow. It was only 7:15 in the morning though. But he _knew_ Tuesdays were always doomed to be decceleratively slow. So slow in fact that Axel was surprised Leon didn't just decide to make every single Tuesday a day off altogether. It would take a load of work off their shoulders. Of course, to the boss man, that would undoubtedly be the most ludicrous plan of action _ever_ ("Who the hell would _not_ operate a coffee place on _Tuesdays_? Pretty damn random day to close shop, if you ask me."). He knew that Leon took his job as Overseer/Manager/Superior of The Fix veeeery seriously. Verily very. He was awfully career-minded, that guy.

That was not to say that Axel disliked Leon. No, no. Quite on the contrary, really. Much to the smug delight of the redhead, Leon seemed to (discreetly) show interest in many of Axel's charming anecdotes and outrageous tales, and he didn't seem to mind his spicy attitude and roguish behaviour (they didn't seem to piss the boss man off at any rate at least). The redhead was proud of the fact that he was able to not just tame the lion within Leon, but make him laugh at his cheap plastic jokes as well. He was one of the few people (read: probably the only person in the world) who could make Leon display some kind of emotion (the positive, not negative, kind of emotion, mind you). It was a fact that he loved to rub in Cloud Strife's face. Where Axel Onér (University Reject Extraordinaire) was the boss' best pal in the workplace, Cloud Strife (University Dropout Extraordinaire) remained the painful thorn in the boss' side.

Anyway, Tuesdays (like I was saying) were slow. The first customer who walked through the tinted double glass doors (fitted with an awesome welcome/exit chime, thankyouverymuchpleasecomeagain) had ordered a regular coffee to go and had already left in a hurry to get to work (the McDonald's down on Coronation Drive, by the looks of the dude's uniform). Bright sunlight was streaming through the glass doors, lighting the place up quite nicely. Thank the Lord the bar was indoors and air-conditioned. Summer was a killer season in Twilight City. Like, seriously. It had been known to start an outbreak of the bubonic plague. Honest. Fleas and rats multiply like rabbits in summer. Or so Axel liked to tell himself.

Axel sighed semi-dramatically (oh, woe!). Why in the name of Aladdin's lamp did he sign up for this job again?

"I know what you're thinking," Cloud muttered from beside him in dark disposition as he wiped down the bench top of the divider rather vehemently, his biceps and less-than-awe-inspiring arm muscles bulging with strain due to over-excessive cleaning. The counter was squeaky clean. Spotless. Immaculate. Freaking _antiseptic_. Really, there was no need to put a hole in the marble surface with such abrasive cleaning agents. But then again, Cloud had nothing better to do. Counter cleaner was probably his main role at the bar. Or something. "This is such a fucking bore," the blond continued, lifting up a cookie jar _(Mrs. Fields ain't got nothin' on The Fix!)_ to swipe under it. "Can't believe I've been working here seven days a week for six months now. I totally fucking _hate_ my stinking life."

Axel looked at Cloud, amused. He had one of those pouty-unhappy-_grr_-iamsoannoyedrightnow expressions plastered onto his face. It looked hilariously comical to the redhead for some reason.

"Sure looks that way to me, Strifey."

Cloud looked like he wanted to throw the cookie jar _(Famous Amos, hell yeah!)_ at the offending redhead. "_Don't _call me that!" the blond snarled sharply.

"Or what? You'll _cookie_ me?"

Cloud slammed the jar back down on the counter.

"Rawr! Someone's catty today!" Axel exclaimed with a huge grin. His acid-green eyes sparkled with something like unhidden glee. Oh yes, the young man truly revelled in other people's pain and frustration. Cruel, sadistic, immature bastard. "Does the poor little kitty cat want a huuug?"

Cloud flung the dish cloth at Axel with an _ugh!_ of disdain. On a perfectly normal day, the redhead would have been able to skilfully dodge the soaring piece of fabric soaked in lemony fresh cleaning detergent (he always believed he had been The Flash in a previous life). This was not a perfectly normal day. So it kinda' flew at him and hit him in the face with a dull splat (that sounded more like a dull '_phlup_').

"Keep your lecherous hugs to yourself, you freak," Cloud _hmph_ed, basking in a few golden moments of satisfaction ('Booyah! I hit him! 20,000 points to me, bitch!')

"Ew! Yuck! Ew, ew!" Axel pried the damp cloth off him with a thumb and forefinger and dumped it on the counter. "Damn, this kitty's got some claws! Me-_ow_!"

"Stop with the cat-talk!" Cloud yelled. "Do I _look_ like a feline to you? I don't remember having any pointy ears and shit. I _swear_, those Loveless comics are getting to your fucking head!"

"Oh my god, stop screaming at me!" Axel shrieked theatrically, arms akimbo and flailing wildly. Then, he just sort of dropped them limply, shoulders sagging, head shaking sympathetically. "Man, Cloud, you really need to get laid. Or… something."

Cloud grabbed the cloth and started scrubbing the countertop again with renewed dynamism. "Yeah?" he grounded out between clenched teeth.

"Uh-huh. Totally."

"What? You offering?"

Axel stared at the blond, an eyebrow raised as though Cloud had just proposed some stupid proposal. "You kidding me? Two words for you, hot shot. _No freakin'_ _way_."

The blond continued scrubbing, thinking to himself that maybe the redhead had a counting problem. "And here I thought you swung both ways," he muttered.

"I swing every way," Axel declared, enunciating the word 'every' by jabbing a finger at himself. "But _you_ are not, uh, you know, _swinging material_."

Cloud looked up and stared with his what-the-fuck face.

"Wait, I mean you're… not worth to be… swung at? No, that's not it…" the redhead thought for a moment. "Ahah! Got it!" He pointed at Cloud for effect. "You are not worth my _swinging efforts_! Yeah!" Axel nodded happily, finally content with his elucidation.

Cloud's expression changed spectacularly. His grip on the poor, innocent little dish cloth constricted suffocatingly. (If it had any feelings, it would be yelling, "Goddammit, unhand me you cloth-killing bastard!")

"I mean, come on!" Axel jabbered on. "Have you looked yourself in the mirror lately?"

Cloud's eyes narrowed dangerously into slits. "And what the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Axel sniggered, indicating that he did not, in fact, think it was nothing.

"Man, you're fucking gay."

"Mmhmm," Axel mumbled, already losing interest in the conversation and not paying much attention to the sullen blond. "Yeah, uh, I guess," the redhead nodded, "Whatever you say, dude."

Cloud sort of growled. Axel grinned and tottered over to the small, tiny radio they owned (_they_ being The Fix in general) and flicked the volume up. Some random song that sounded vaguely like a happy-feel-good tune out of a Friends episode (_Love Song for No One – John Mayer_) was playing. He briefly wondered if he should change the station to something that played emo/punk/Cloud-ish songs ("I bleed it out, digging deeper just to throw it away!"). Maybe his blond friend would appreciate it. But hey, the customers wouldn't (not that they _had_ any in the bar at the moment, but whatever). He kept the happy song on.

The two sort of moped around behind the counter for the next few minutes. After awhile, Cloud seemed to have calmed down. He started muttering to himself. Or at least that's what Axel thought he was doing, until he realised that the blond was muttering lyrics in tune to the song on the radio.

"… searchin' all my days just to find you, I'm not sure who I'm lookin' for. I'll know it, when I see you…" Cloud half-hummed, half-sang under his breath, bobbing his head to the music.

"You know this song?" The redhead was surprised.

Cloud turned to regard his co-worker almost severely. "John Mayer, fool. _Everyone_ knows his songs."

_Not me._ Axel shrugged. "Right. You keep tellin' yourself that, Strife_yyy_-err-_yyyyes_! Ilikecardboard. Yes, yes, I do!" he quickly corrected himself.

Cloud sighed. He let it go.

_I could've met you in sandbox… I could've passed you on the sidewalk. Could I have missed my chance, and watched you walk awaaaay?_

"Where's Leon anyway?" Axel murmured, poking at a few random buttons on the cash register.

"Dead?" Cloud supplied helpfully.

"Naw, don't say that. You love him! Yes you dooo! Everyone loves Squaaaall! He's one hell of a stud muffin!"

"Stud muffin my ass!" Cloud scoffed. "I love him as much as I love you. Meaning, _no_, I don't love him, and _yes_, sometimes I wanna punch him in between the eyes because he gets on my fuckin' nerves."

"Ouch," Axel winced. "You wound me, Cloud."

"Oops, my bad," the blond shrugged uncaringly.

"Well, seriously though, check on Leon. Maybe he collapsed in the kitchen and died for real."

"I'd be overly joyous if that were true," Cloud muttered.

"You must be very disappointed then, Strife, to know that I am in perfectly good health right now."

Cloud resisted the urge to bang his head against the counter and knock himself out.

_Strikethough_Squall_endstrikethrough_ Leon(hart) had emerged from the kitchen (why the hell was he always so sneaky like that?!). He had a sheet of A3 paper in his hand (the heading read '_HELP WANTED_').

"All hail the boss man!" Axel saluted Leon's appearance.

Leon _tsk_ed and shook his head. "Whatever, Axel. I'm putting this poster up by the doorway," he said soberly. "Then I'm heading out to attend an interview for about an hour. You two'll mend the bar, I hope?" He glared at the two as though daring them to disagree and say no. Pfft. As if they_ would_.

"Yes, boss man, sir! Er, what interview's that? …Sir?" Axel was curious. It was only 7:28AM in the morning. Leon never left the bar in the hands of his employees at such an early hour. They only just opened up twenty-eight freaking minutes ago!

"You don't have to know, because quite frankly, it's none of your business," Leon said, heading to the front door and sticking the piece of paper to the wall with large globs of _blu tac_. "At least not yet, anyway," he finished. "Right, I'm off. See you guys in a bit," the man muttered, yanking the door open.

_Tink-a-clink-a-link._

"This place had better be standing when I get back."

And Leon was gone

Less than a minute later, the door opened again and the chime went off.

_Tink-a-clink-a-link. _

Axel figured that they should get a new greeting chime. Preferably something that played the tune to some Freaky Fantasy IX music. That would be wicked cool.

Anyway, two customers walked through the doors. They were chatting away vociferously (well, one of them seemed to be doing enough talking for the both of them). Cloud looked up at the newcomers, rolled his eyes, whispered, "You handle these two, Axel. I'm gonna' go hang out the back for awhile."

Axel waved the blond off. "Yeah, whatever. Go have a cigarette or something. Have fun. I've got your back, yo." The redhead winked. "Just make sure your ass is back here by the time Squall-poo gets back."

Cloud snorted, a small smile playing on his lips, and left through the kitchen door. Yeah, the dropout loved the daily banter he had with his colleague. It may get on his nerves sometimes (really, most of his irritation was feigned anyways), but it was probably the only thing that kept him sane in this dull, monotonous job. Axel was his lifesaver. Kinda.

Anyways, Axel was left on his own to mend the counter, having been deserted by his co-workers (which, as the redhead was about to learn, was a pretty good thing).

Back to the matter at hand, the two customers who had just entered The Fix had walked up to the counter and were now waiting for the barista (they really shouldn't be called 'baristas', more like 'coffee makers', but whatever) to take their order. Axel pretended to be busying himself with nothing in particular (yes, he was a busy man), then glanced up at them with (vague) interest when one of them cleared their throats. Ah, yes. They were definitely teenage kids (they_ were_ in school uniform), was the first thing the redhead noticed. Wow. Pretty unusual to have high school kids coming in at this hour. What was it? 7:34AM? Odd.

"Hello little dudes. What'll it be today?" he exclaimed with a huge smile.

The kid on the right with messy brown spikes of hair and freakishly _huge_ ocean-blue eyes waved and returned Axel's mega smile with one of his own. "Hey there! Could I like, have a double espresso please?" he piped up in the most cheery, upbeat voice Axel had ever heard in his life.

"What he means is _two_ espressos. Not a single with double the dose of caffeine," the other kid (blond, equally messy hair, equally blue eyes – albeit a shade darker) muttered lowly, looking like he wanted to strangle his friend but couldn't really be bothered to because it would probably take up too much effort.

Axel did a double take when he finally fully laid eyes on this second customer. Oh, man. Holy. Fucking. Hell. He was the most prettiest thing he had ever been given the chance to look at. He had this pale, soft, quietly mellifluous, just-a-tad-lighter-than-dark quality about him. Fucking _pretty _as an angel. Like, seriously. No one should look that pretty. It should be… against the law or something. Axel was suddenly insanely ecstatic. Something good actually happened today. This golden-haired kid walked in!

Tuesdays, he suddenly decided, were very awesome.

Then, he remembered he was taking an order. "Okay. Two espressos for you," the redhead nodded dismissively at the brunet. Then, diverting all attention, he turned to face the blond, flashing him with one of his trademark _So Very Sexy Axel_ smile. "And what do youuuu want?" he purred enticingly.

The blond cutie frowned, not exactly amused. "Does my friend look like he actually _needs_ two espressos?" he grounded out sarcastically.

Axel blinked, confused, then he glanced back at the bouncy brunet once more. Yep, he looked like a kid on crack. He was playing with the damn menu on the counter, dammit. No one actually _looked_ at the damn menu on the damn counter. "Uh, no…?" he ventured cautiously.

"_Exactly_," Blondie said tartly. "Two espressos. One for me," he pointed at himself, "and one for him," he jabbed his thumb at his lively friend. Then, the kid shoved a ten dollar bill in the redhead's direction. "And that will be all."

Axel decided that he liked the kid immediately. He was straightforward, temperamental, demanding, gorgeously hot… and would probably play hard-to-get. But the fact that he was _gorgeously hot goddammit_ outweighed that slight setback. Just his type of guy. Perfect.

He cashed the ten dollar note and returned the change (4 dollars and 40 cents) with a receipt.

"Uh, would that be to go? Or are you guys having it here in the bar?"

Brown-Haired Kid glanced at Blondie, shrugged, grinned. "We'll have it here. School doesn't start till like, eight-thirty anyways."

Axel nodded. "Take a seat, then."

And so they did.

Axel then busied himself with making the orders. It was almost second nature to him now. Working the coffee machine was easy as pie. But for some reason, his eyes were kinda glued to the back of his new object of veneration (he was seated with his back to the redhead, sadly). It made the job of working the coffee machine considerably trickier. But whatever. Hot kid. Must. _Stare_.

Several thoughts were running through his head at this moment and he wondered if it was possible to discretely stick his phone number to the blond kid's mug of espresso without the other kid knowing (not that he cared if the brunet knew or not). But then he realised that Blondie was probably far from the type to actually call up weird strangers working full shifts at a coffee bar who was technically five/six/maybe seven years his senior anyways. Well, Blondie had better become a regular then. If not for the sole purpose of discreet wooing and/or flirting, then for the sole purpose of ogling and admiring from afar. Blondie looked so hot. Pretty-boy hot. In fact, he looked something like a cross between Cloud and Jesse (like, that McCartney guy), which kind of verily freaked the redhead out. No. Scratch that. Cloud could never be as hot as Blondie, and Jesse could never be as pretty-boy as Blondie. Axel shook his head. Where had his brain gone? To sleep?

Anyways, he was finally done with making the espressos. With exact precision, he loaded the top of the two coffees with a dusting of cinnamon powder and white chocolate shavings and carried them over to the awaiting high school kids.

Brownie grinned at Axel as he came by and placed the two large coffees on the table where the two teenagers sat.

"Took you long enough," Blondie grumbled, grabbing his beverage.

"Don't listen to him," Brownie said with a friendly grin, "We've still got about an hour to kill till school starts. And it's just a five minute sprint from here." He sighed happily, taking a tentative sip from his steaming coffee mug. "Man, I'm _so_ glad we found this place! We can now so _totally_ come here like, every day before school for like, a quick breakfast! This place is awesome!" Brownie glanced around the deserted bar with eyes that seemed too überly wide to be normal. "It's quiet, roomy, comfy and awesome. Kinda' has this certain _ambience_ to it… Totally cool. And _very_ awesome!"

"You said awesome thrice," Hot Blond Kid said dismally.

"Cuz it's triply awesome."

Blondie sighed. "S'pose so."

Axel shrugged, grabbed a chair and pulled it over, sitting at their table with them. Wasn't like he had anything better to do. Sitting and chatting with the customers seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Plus, hello? Hot blond guy to his right! How could he pass up this chance?

"You may _think_ it's all quiet and roomy and comfy and stuff – hey, it's _Tuesday_ – but it gets hella crowded in the afternoons on most days, and we almost always get swamped by the time evening comes 'round," he said, waving a hand in the air.

"Ah. Figures," the brunet nodded sagely, sipping from his espresso. "Tuesdays must be slow."

"Why, you little genius!" Axel exclaimed, then laughed. Blondie rolled his eyes, indicating that he did not, in fact, think there was anything very genius about his friend. He sipped at his coffee rather impassively.

"So, where are you guys from? Like, which school? Sundown State High? Or that private institution down the other way?"

"The one down the other way."

"Saint Alexandros' College?"

"Yup! Final year. We graduate in November."

"Man, you two must be loaded."

"Naw, he's the rich one," the brunet said, pointing at hot blond. "I'm on a half-scholarship. My parents are like, living in poverty or something."

Blondie rolled his eyes. "Yeah, uh-huh. You tell _everyone_ that story."

"What? It's true, man! C'mon! You know it!"

"Dude. Like, what are you _talking_ about? Your dad owns half the friggin' city!"

"Don't 'dude' me, dude! Dude, that's just- just… _rude_!" Brownie stopped short, blinked, then broke into a grin. "Wow_, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it!_" he sang.

Two seconds later, Axel heard the back door open and close. And then Cloud came through the kitchen door to stand behind the counter. "Axel, just what the hell're you doing over there?" he thundered.

Axel cringed, then scratched his head bashfully. "Uh, getting to know the customers?" he said, as though it were the most normal thing for him to do. Really, wasn't it?

Cloud rolled his eyes. Oh god, him and Blondie could totally be cousins! "Stop fraternising with them and get your ass over here where it belongs!"

"Right. Fine. What_ever_." Axel looked apologetically at the two teenagers at the table, mouthed 'that guy is totally cuckoo' at them whilst pointing inconspicuously at Cloud, heaved himself out of his chair and stood, straightening his uniform and sighing overdramatically. "Well kids, enjoy the rest of your coffee. I gotta' go make my disgruntled colleague over there happy and stand beside him in that tiny space behind the stupid counter now and busy myself with… stuff. Later!" And yeah, the redhead couldn't help it. He ruffled Blondie's blond hair and walked off with a grin on his face.

Cloud was glaring swords and daggers and other similar pointy objects at him as he approached the counter. "Yeah, yeah, save it," Axel muttered. "Leon ain't here. Lighten up, man. Jeez. You just ruined a perfectly good opportunity for me to acquaint myself with the blond one over there." He pointed for effect.

"Acquaint?" Cloud looked incredulous. "In your dictionary, that kinda means 'flirt with, and eventually get into said acquaintance's pants'. Axel, he's like, fifteen!" he hissed lowly.

"Nuh-uh! Final year of high school. Makes him something like sixteen. Or seventeen. Or eighteen."

"You're like, twenty-four in a month."

"I like, don't really give a fuck."

"That's an age gap of seven years!" Cloud spluttered.

"Could be six."

"Pedophile."

"Moron."

"Idiot."

"Strifey."

"Argh! Shut up, go away. Don't talk to me." And Cloud stormed back into the kitchen, slamming the door behind him.

Brownie and Blondie glanced up from their conversation to look towards the counter. Loud noises. Hmm. Let's all turn and stare at the source!

"Er," Axel blinked. "Don't mind him. He's had too many emo pills or something."

The boys returned to their drinks and their tête-à-tête.

Something like ten, fifteen minutes went by. Axel was getting extremely bored.

"We're doooone!" Brownie announced, prancing to his feet and flourishing his arms indicatively at the empty cups on the table in typical 'ta dahhh!' fashion. Indeed, they had finished their espressos.

"Time to head off?" Blondie questioned, looking towards his friend inquiringly.

"Yup!" the brunet nodded, then grinned at Axel. "Gotta go, coffee man! School calls!"

And the two kids headed towards the exit. But then, just as they were about to pull the door open, Brownie caught sight of something on the wall.

"Hey look here, Rox!" he exclaimed excitedly, pointing. "_Help wanted_. _See manager for enquiries…_ Hmm…"

And Brownie all but ripped the poster off the wall (it almost ripped itself in half, actually). The very poster Leon had just tacked on a few minutes before. Oh boy, the boss man would chuck a fit later on. Axel winced.

"I'm taking this, dude!" the brunet perpetrator yelled, and then, without further ado, he grabbed Blondie by the wrist and dashed out of the bar and around the corner, disappearing in a cloud of imaginary dust.

They were gone.

Actually, Brownie doubled back for a few seconds, screamed "Your coffee is the shiz, yo!" whilst waving the poster in the air like a cheerleader's pompom, and then disappeared around the corner again.

Axel wondered if giving him an espresso was such a great idea after all. In all seriousness, the brunet's energetic liveliness could spell the doom of his prestigious high school. Yes, he could so see the headlines of tonight's news. **'Caffeine-fuelled Boy Destroys Private High School'**.

But that only took up two point five seconds of the redhead's thoughts before he started to wonder if he'd ever see the pretty blond kid again.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Axel needs to learn how to count. Really, he does._

_McDonald's (c) the guys who own the fast food chain.  
__Famous Amos Cookies (c) err… Amos?  
__Mrs. Fields Cookies (c) Mrs… Fields?  
__Loveless (c) Yun Kouga  
__Love Song for No One (c) John Mayer  
__I Bleed It Out (c) Linkin Park  
__Jesse McCartney (c) Jesse McCartney _

_Yes._

_Now, leave a review? Constructive criticism, interesting/random comments and long-winded-ness welcome. :)_


	3. Chapter 3: CHAI LATTE

_**Author's Note: **__This one's kinda' short. But I've been busy as hell. Anyhoo, my love goes out to the following who reviewed: __**iluvtoady, Ricca, p3achy, 13loves8loves9loves6, Moliski, Geesesaymoo, PandaGaaraInsomniac9, Ookami Aya **__and__** sorceress115. **__You guys win._

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Chai Latte**

**Chai:** _(noun) _A beverage made with spiced black tea, honey and milk._  
_**Latte: **_(noun)_ Espresso usually topped with frothy, steamed milk._  
_**Chai Latte:** _(noun) _Definitely Demyx's favourite drink. Do not question it.

"_**Let's Blow this Popsicle Stand."**_

Axel Onér was muttering something completely and utterly incoherent, and also probably highly explicit, in what was possibly Gaelic or Russian or Portuguese that caused his blond-haired co-worker to look up sharply in pure, unadulterated annoyance. Said co-worker's temper was getting worse by the second. Really, nothing was more irritating than a mindlessly restless Axel. Why? Well, only because a mindlessly restless Axel had the exertive tendency to do ridiculously stupid things. So it goes without saying that Cloud was finally pushed (shoved) over the edge of his high-and-mighty pedestal of tolerance as soon as the redhead had started speaking to customers in foreign languages and serving them with mugs of tap water.

"_Okay_," Cloud snapped as soon as the last customer walked out of the bar out of earshot and they were left in peace for awhile. His patience had just about run off the face of a cliff and plummeted, landing with a sickening splat among some jagged rocks below. "What the hell is your problem, Axel? Your theatrics are starting to really piss me off. Have you completely lost your mind?"

In hindsight, Cloud would later come to realise just how close to the truth his words had been.

Axel blinked a few times at the blond with an expression that clearly read: _why exactly are you yelling at me?_ He ran a shaky hand through his red spikes, shrugged once, and picked up the milk carton on the countertop, drinking straight out of it. "Just about," he replied sluggishly after a long swig. "Damn. This milk's good. Here," he shoved the carton in front of his colleague's face, sloshing some of the white stuff down Cloud's uniform. "Try some."

Cloud wrinkled his nose, very much resisting the urge to grab the carton out of Axel's spindly fingers and spattering its contents all over the redhead's face. Instead, he pushed Axel away and hissed. "Ax, we use that for the coffee, you asshole." He glared pointedly for a few moments. The redhead only looked back uncomprehendingly. Finally, Cloud had no choice but to emit a slow sigh of defeat and pace up and down behind the counter broodingly. "It's that high school kid, isn't it? The one who looked like he would carve out your eyes and eat them if you so much as tried to lay a finger on him."

Axel stopped fidgeting with the milk carton and stared at Cloud. "Wow. You… you know me too well. You're freaking me out here, Strife."

Cloud snorted, his expression dubious. He doubted he would ever get anywhere remotely _close_ to knowing the redhead and understanding how his mind worked.

"Axel, I don't get you. _At all_. Do you even know the kid's _name_?"

Cue sudden record scratch of the ear-splitting variety.

Now, Axel was brought back to reality. Huh. What _was_ the kid's name? He frowned slightly. Really, he could've sworn that Blondie's best friend had mentioned it briefly. The redhead racked his brains, but finally came up with a complete blank. Goddammit.

"Er… Not really?" He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I'll probably never see him again," he said gloomily, setting the half-empty milk carton on the counter with tired resignation. And to Cloud, Axel sounded like the world had just ended.

What the _hell_. Axel was never one to dwell over someone he's only met for a time frame of fifteen minutes, give or take. Much less dwell on someone for more than twenty-four hours. Whatever happened to Flirty McFlirtflirt?

"You just saw him yesterday, moron," Cloud muttered tartly, "Man, you seriously need to get your mind off that teenager. God, if he found out you've been pining after him, he'd probably call the police on you. I wouldn't be surprised if you had like, wet dreams about him last night." The blond shuddered inwardly at the thought. Poor, poor high schooler. "Stop. Thinking. About. Him. Besides, he's too young, too rich, too angry-looking. Not your type."

Axel looked mildly offended. "Cloud? I take back what I said about you knowing me too well. You know nuts about me and my taste."

Cloud rolled his eyes. It seemed to be something of an automatic response to more than half the things Axel says.

"_Focus_, you douche. Leon will kick your skinny ass to hell and back if he finds out that you've been giving free mochas away."

"Hey, hey, hey! That was just the one time! And no, I did _not_ dish it out for free. He just _forgot_ to pay, s'all. What you saw was… was a LIE." Axel pointed dramatically for effect.

"Oh. And I suppose you _conveniently_ 'forgot' to ask him for the money too? Wow, what a coincidence," Cloud muttered sarcastically.

"Well…" Axel scratched the back of his neck. "That's debateable."

Cloud shook his head. "It's what we _do, _Ax. We get people to pay for the shit we make. It's part of the fucking job description. 'That's four-fifty for the coffee and two-ten for the shortbread finger, sir.' Is that so hard to say?"

Axel crossed his arms with a graceless pout. "At least the guy walked out of here happy _and_ six dollars, sixty cents richer," he reasoned deductively. "I did a _good_ thing. See? I'm sure God'll let me into heaven now!"

Cloud threw his hands up into the air with a "pfft!" that made Axel know he'd given up at last. "I _give up_," Cloud reiterated scowlingly. "You're hopeless. _There's _another reason why your dream boy toy won't ever take a second look at you. You excel at being hopeless."

Axel tsked. "Flattery, or lack thereof, gets you nowhere, Cloudy."

"Whoever said I wanted to go anywhere with _you_?" Cloudy bit back acidly.

"Oh my God. You really, really need to get yourself a girl. Or a boy. Whichever way you swing. Because, hell, you honestly need to fucking get yourself laid."

"Shut up, Axel. SHUT UP. If you don't shut up right now, so help me God, I will _end_ you!"

Axel did not, in fact, shut up. He kept going as though Cloud had duct tape over his lips and he had earplugs inserted into his ears.

"I know! I could hook you up with my sister! Are you into redheads? You _must _be! Yes! You and my sister should get together!"

"Look, Axel. I am _not_, repeat: _not_, looking for a relationship right now. So go shove your stupid ideas up y--"

"You suuuure? I'm pretty certain Kairi wouldn't mind a one-night stand. No strings attached and all that jazz." Axel cupped a hand beside his mouth and mock-whispered, "I heard she's a major slut."

Cloud looked semi-horrified. "Axel! She's your friggin' SISTER. How can you say stuff like that about her? She's like, sixteen!"

"Sixteen and a slut, yes." Axel nodded.

"No, Ax. No one-night stands. I am _not_ sleeping with your sister!"

"Okay. Fine. Cool."

Cloud stared. Axel had dropped the subject like a hot potato, which was very unlike the redhead. Usually, Axel would harp on a particular subject until the blond gave in completely.

"Okay?" Cloud echoed warily.

"Yeah. Okay. It's _so_ obvious you're gay."

Cloud mentally slapped his forehead.

Axel's eyes gleamed. "How 'bout you sleep with my brot--"

"AXEL. NO, ALRIGHT? Reno was a bitch and I haven't even met Kairi. Stop trying to hook me up with random people I hardly even know!"

"But _I _know them!" Axel said pointedly, like it made all the difference in the world. "Reno would adore you!"

"Can you please drop it?" Cloud snarled violently. "Not. Sleeping. With. Reno. Or. Kairi. Or any of your family. For your information, your psychotic brother almost broke my arm in high school. And you just stood on the sidelines and _watched. _With a _smile _on your face."

"You guys were having a go at each other in the cafeteria!" Axel defended. "What the hell was I supposed to do? _Break it up_?" Axel exclaimed incredulously, as though the very notion was ridiculous. Really, who the hell tried to break up a fight between two tough (okay, not-so-tough) guys tussling on one of the lunch tables when about two hundred people were cheering them on? "If it'll make you feel any better, my bet was on you. Too bad Reno played dirty."

At that point, Cloud decided to stop talking to the redhead for the next eighteen minutes. Eighteen minutes was a mighty long time. And somewhere in the middle of it, Axel had forgotten all about Operation: Get Cloud Laid. Instead, he was fixed on finishing his milk (that wasn't actually his, really, but that didn't matter) and eventually, he started talking about more interesting things.

"Hey. You know, I heard from Leon that he's hired some new guy to help us out, since y'know, we get kinda' swamped at night on occassion."

Cloud looked up from where he was fiddling around with the radio tuner. He didn't say anything for a few moments until he found something tasteful to his ears to fill The Fix ("I'm dying, praying, bleeding, screaming. Am I too lost to be saved? Am I too lost? My God, my tourniquet. Return to me salvation.").

"Yeah? Where's he from?"

Axel made a face at Cloud's choice of station, then shrugged. "Dunno. Think he's gonna' be a part-timer though. According to the boss, he's studying in the university across town."

"UT?"

"Yep."

"Huh. I dropped out from UT."

"And that's why you work here full time now," came a dry voice from the entrance.

Surprise, surprise! It was none other than (drumroll, please!) Squall _I-Changed-My-Name-To-Leon_ Leonhart!

And they didn't even hear the door open. Wow, that guy was sneaky. Or maybe they didn't realise it because the chime didn't go off. Axel made a mental note to find out what caused it to die.

Anyway, the boss man had someone with him. Someone who looked exactly like one of those hardcore punks with hair that completely didn't make _any_ sense whatsoever and something like twenty piercings on both his ears. He had copious amounts of _bling_ draped around his neck and fingers. What was terrifying though, was that he was wearing their standard Caffeine Fixation uniform, complete with name badge and all.

Axel caught the 'oh crap' that Cloud whispered to himself.

"Axel, Cloud," Leon said, with something like smugness and self-satisfaction in his voice, "I'd like you to meet the newest addition to the team, Demyx Aeco."

"Yo! 'Sup, guys!" the Demyx guy flicked his dirty blond hair back with typical 'I Are Awesome Punk Rocker Dude' elegance and waved casually. And yeah, his nails were painted with black polish.

Cloud nearly died on the spot. What in the name of all things holy was going on?! No way in hell would Leon hire someone like _this guy_.

Leon was oblivious to the many explosions that were detonating within Cloud's brain at the moment. He was busy introducing the new employee. "He's a second year kid from the University of Twilight. Came to me looking for some part-time work. So from now on he'll be here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from late afternoon – as soon as his classes are over – till late. He'll work the morning shift on Saturday too."

"Mmm. Demyx, was it?" Axel hummed. "He looks pretty, er…" He thought for a short moment, decided to abandon that train of thought altogether when he realised that he had no idea how to describe him, and all but pranced around the counter and approached the newcomer, extending a hand. "Hey. I'm Axel. Pleasure to meet you. That," he pointed over his shoulder, "is Cloud. He's gay." The redhead beamed. "Are _you_ gay?"

Cloud spluttered. Clearly, Operation: Let's Totally Get Cloud, the Newly-Pronounced Homosexual, Laid! was still on Axel's mind.

"Er…" Demyx looked startled, kind of (very) lost for words, as he numbly shook Axel's hand. "… Wha-?"

Leon took this moment to clear his throat. "Axel, you know that I acknowledge your amusing comments and such, but could you please not make a habit out of freaking new employees out?"

Axel stepped back. "Sure thing, boss. I'll take _good_ care of Demy Dem Dem."

Leon nodded. "I'm placing him under your supervision for the next few days. But I don't believe he'd need any training. He used to work at a café. Isn't that right, Demyx?"

Demyx nodded, playing with a particularly monstrous and remarkably shiny ring on his finger. "Employee of the month for three months straight at the Coffee Club, sir. I make an awesome ice blended mocha and the best chai latte on the planet." He grinned good-naturedly. "Chai lattes are God's gift to cafés."

"Right. Wonderful. You'll do just fine." Leon turned to Axel, then to Cloud. "Now, you guys help him get his footing around here. I've got to make an important call."

He left via the back door.

"Okaaaaay. Is it just me or is Leon making a hell lot of 'important calls' these few days?" Axel wondered aloud with a raised eyebrow.

"I believe he's got a new girlfriend," Demyx whispered conspiratorially. Then he straightened, gave a cheery smile, adjusted his uniform and drove a hand through his unruly mullet-cum-mohawk (all at the same time!). "And you _so_ didn't hear that from me." His smile widened innocently.

Axel grinned. "Kid? You and me are gonna' get along juuuuust fine."

Cloud made a strangled noise and felt like bashing his skull in with the coffee machine.

Axel looked back at the counter and shrugged nonchalantly with a suppressed grin. "Not sure about the rain cloud over there, though."

Cloud was arguably semi-mortified that Leon had hired the Punk of the Year to work with them (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday! WHY, GOD, WHY?!). Was Leon insane? INSANE?! Maybe this Demyx guy and Leon were pals or family friends or something close and chummy like that. Either way, Cloud was not very glad about this new arrangement.

"Hey, um, Cloud? Can I call you Cloud? Yeah, uh…" Demyx spoke up cautiously, walking up to the other blond. "You look kinda' annoyed at something."

"Oh, _really_? What makes you think _that_?" Cloud hissed, then turned on his heel and stormed off indignantly into the kitchen in a huff.

"Don't mind him, Dem. He's just sore that Leon likes _everyone _except him. He'll get over it soon enough. I see you and him becoming real good pals in the near future."

Demyx looked at Axel, unconvinced. "I guess… I just don't like people being mad at me."

"Not your fault he's such a sullen bitch," Axel said comfortingly. "Trust me, by six tonight, he'll forget that you're new and start warming up to you. Now, let's get to work. Emokids, two o'clock." Axel grabbed Demyx by the arm and tugged him behind the counter just as two people walked in through the glass doors.

Demyx blinked rapidly, nearly stumbling.

"Emokids?" he whispered in hushed tones as he regained his balance.

"They both have the Hair Thing going on," Axel explained, voice low. And at Punkboy's blank look, elaborated, "Y'know, the flippy-hair-in-the-eyes thing."

"Oh."

"Now stand behind the register. I wanna' see how you tackle these two."

That was when Demyx finally looked closely at the two supposedly 'emo' customers. He started at them for all but two seconds before giving off a half-squeal and running straight into the kitchen like a drunken rat that had just spotted a lion.

"What the-?"

Axel raised an eyebrow. That was definitely _weird_. What had gotten into that kid? He couldn't have a fear of emohair and black skinny jeans, could he? The redhead turned back to the customers, who had approached the counter at last.

They were both guys. Guy Number One had long silver hair. Guy Number Two had not-that-long-but-still-pretty-long slate-coloured hair. And both of them had their faces almost half-hidden by their tresses.

It was almost disturbing.

Uni kids, Axel decided. Definitely uni kids. And he'd be damned if Demyx didn't know at least one of them somehow.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ I'm right in the middle of my finals. This chapter was a product of pure procrastination. And yes, Demyx has joined the crew. Also, yes, Riku and Zexion just walked into the Fix._ _Cliffhangersareawesome._

_Tourniquet (c) Evanescence_

_Oh. Reviews are appreciated. They make me smile. :)_


	4. Chapter 4: ICE BLENDED MOCHA

_**Author's Note: **__Oh look here! An update! How quaint! Sorry for being gone so long and leaving everyone hanging just as our two prettyboys walked through the door. I've been catching up on some much-needed rest and relaxation. Well, to the following who reviewed chapter 3__**: p3achy, 321, Kikyo Uchiha, PandaGaaraInsomniac9, 13loves8loves9loves6, xWhisperWolfx, NarutoXxXLisa, Hotaru-ai, Geesesaymoo, Anya Urameshi, Stormbringer246, Silva-trees, Kita Ito, Mystical Moon, Blaze Moonlight, NightmareFairy, Krazy Kitsune13, XxShinka Mi-Mi ChanXx**__ and __**soleil noire**__, THANK YOU, you people are freaking awesome and you all deserve a Caffeine Fixation voucher that gets you a free homemade muffin and a free drink. :D _

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Ice Blended Mocha**

**Ice:** _(noun) _Frozen water; water in its solid state. I'm not talking about the drug.  
**Blended: **_(adj.)_ A word that describes something that has been mixed or combined to achieve a state whereby the constituents are indistinguishable from each other.  
**Mocha:** _(noun) _A coffee beverage infused with the flavourings of milk, sugar and chocolate.  
**Ice Blended Mocha:** _(noun) _Zexion's very first order at The Fix. And no, he does _not_ want whipped cream, kthxbai.

"_**Excuse me? We're not giggly pre-teenage females here."**_

To go over current events, no, James Bond and Remus Lupin did not just walk in through the immaculately polished glass doors of The Fix. In actuality, two young gentlemen with ridiculously pretty (and exceptionally shiny) hair did. And by the gods, their hairstyles were breath-taking works of art. They practically _radiated_. Axel stared at them for awhile as they approached the counter, and the redhead silently observed the way the sunlight shining through the windows hit their tresses at perfect angles, bouncing and reflecting off their heads prismatically. Self-consciously, Axel ran a hand through his own mop of crimson hair, a feeling of unsatisfactory inadequateness taking over him, leaving a strange emptiness in his chest.

His eyes were green with envy. Figuratively.

Anyway, the customers had walked up to the counter. It was an odd thing that the two weren't engaged in some sort of pre-order banter. I mean, usually, if people came in twos or threes, they would be asking each other useless time-consuming questions such as: '_hey,_ _what do you think I should get?_' or '_what are you having?_' or '_I heard their iced lattes taste like sewage water. Are you, by any chance, ordering one?_', etc. But the two emokids weren't deep in such a conversation. They were silent, like the epitome of emo. Either that or they already had some kind of scheme to rob the place.

Despite that, Axel, being the barista (or whatever the hell he was), gave them a dashing ear-to-ear grin.

"And how may I help you two fine youngsters today hmmm?" he asked brightly. And from somewhere behind him, he heard Cloud's what-the-_hell_-is-wrong-with-_you_ voice emanate from beyond the kitchen door. The redhead had to resist the impulse to roll his eyes. Poor Demyx.

Anyways, there was no reason for Axel to call the two individuals before him 'youngsters', because they looked to be about the same age as the redhead. But then again, Axel always _did_ enjoy belittling the masses.

The shorter guy, with the slate-coloured hair that hung down in front of his face so that it hid one of his dark, stormy eyes spoke up first in a neutral tone of voice, acting completely oblivious to the weird noises in the kitchen. "Yeah, hi. Uh, I'd like a small ice blended mocha, thanks," he said, casually sweeping his hair back with a hand in one fluid motion so that Axel could finally catch a tiny glimpse of his other eye (before the hair fell back into place again like a stage curtain). "And no whipped cream," the guy added hastily, as though he believed whipped cream was cancer-inducing and tasted like paperclips.

Axel took in the young man's too-thin, too-tiny frame and smirked with an all-knowing nod. Yeah, how else would McEmo fit into his black skinny jeans if he didn't make sure that his Body Mass Index (BMI) was somewhere below 'super severely underweight'? Ah, the trials and tribulations of the young adult community. Some battle with obesity, others battle with anorexia. What the hell has this world come to?

He turned towards the other customer expectantly. This second dude had silver hair that cascaded down his back like a waterfall. Pretty, pretty silver hair that was more pale blue-ish-white than silver (if we're gonna be using table cutlery as a comparison). He also had sea-green eyes. Axel kind of had second thoughts about whether _this_ guy was of the same subculture as McEmo. Because it was very obvious that Silver-Haired Guy worked out at a gym. He was lean but distinctly muscular. And he was tall. Taller than Slate-Haired Guy.

"I'm having a large hazelnut macchiato. With whipped cream."

_Large-sized drink with whipped cream. Okay,_ Axel nodded decisively, _not quite an emo then._

"Anything else for you gentlemen? Something to munch on while you enjoy your drinks? Chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips? We also have Strawberry flavoured Pocky!" He winked at them. "Or maybe you guys want some blueberry muffins? Chicken pie? Pie's good! We sell good pie. Seriously."

The two customers gave Axel a blank stare.

"Aw, c'mon!" Axel waved a hand around in the air. "It's not like I'm trying to make you guys squander your cash on _completely unnecessary foodstuffs_." There was a slight pause of comprehension that reigned for a few moments. "Okay, maybe I _am_," he conceded, "But hello? How could you resist the almighty tastiness of _chicken pie_?"

Silver-Haired Guy made a weird are-you-done-with-upselling-us? face and muttered, "Uh, that's okay. We'll be fine with the drinks. I don't exactly like pies anyway. They're totally overrated."

Axel sighed dejectedly, his marketing ploy deflated. "Fine. So one small ice blended mocha without cream and one large hazelnut macchiato with cream," he keyed the relevant information into the register. "Great. Will that be to go? Or are you two havin' it here?"

"Here," one of them replied monotonously.

"Sweet. Paying together? Yes? Then that's eight dollars and eighty cents in total."

When the transaction was complete, Axel pointed over their shoulders towards the tables.

"Grab a seat, boys. Your order will be ready in like, I dunno, five, eight, ten minutes or something."

And without further ado, the redhead made a flourish and swept away towards the back kitchen. He subsequently found Demyx and Cloud huddled in a corner, very much engaged in a hushed conversation. Which was very odd. The two ceased their chatter as soon as they spotted Axel coming in through the door.

The redhead arched an eyebrow inquiringly, then turned and gave Demyx his full attention. "Hey, new guy. Why'd you scream like a little sissy girl and run back here?" he grumbled. _And here_ _I thought you were some tough guy hardcore punk with your black nail polish and twenty thousand piercings and copious amounts of jewellery. _Axel blinked. _Oh. Wait. Nevermind._

Demyx cleared his throat uncertainly and tried on an expression of nonchalance. "N-no reason," he stuttered in what he deemed was a manly voice.

Cloud, who was standing beside him, snorted and smirked a vicious smirk of smugness. "Apparently those two out there go to UT too," the blond said artfully. "And I do believe our new colleague here has a little _boy crush_ on one of them. Aw, isn't that cuuuute?"

Axel could practically _see_ the mocking sarcasm coming out of Cloud's mouth. But he couldn't be bothered to tell the silly blond to cut it out. Cloud was irritatingly bitchy that way. The redhead just looked at Demyx with a grin and said, "So you _are_ gay! I so totally _knew_ it!" He gave the kid a quick thumbs up and proceeded to busy himself with making the two orders.

Demyx seemed to be having a hard time stopping himself from blushing madly. "It's not that I have a crush on him!" he defended with a slight pout. "It's just that he's – he's so… _pretty_!"

Cloud choked on his tongue extravagantly. Axel kind of just beamed in amusement.

"Sooooo, which one is it?" the redhead asked with an air of innocence as he blended the iced mocha.

"Huh?"

"The short, scary one-eyed one or the tall, well-developed, supermodel material one with the big guns?"

Demyx made a strange strangled noise like a cross between a dying cow and a suffocating yaoi fangirl. It sounded quite bloodcurdling and terrifying.

"Does he even know you exist?"

Another strangled noise. This time it sounded more like a kangaroo being run over by a fast-moving vehicle. Very macabre. Yet pitiful.

"Have you ever even talked to him before?"

Finally, Demyx opened his mouth to reply. "… I've only ever _seen_ him around; at some of the college gigs. I… I've never _said_ anything to him before…" And then he added a little sheepishly, "But I do kind of stalk his online blog a little…"

"What?! Dude. That's just tragic," Axel clucked his tongue reproachfully. "I mean, you can't stalk someone on the internet! The fine art of stalking has to be done in the reality of our physical world."

Cloud, who had been trying to block out the ridiculous conversation, shot the redhead a dirty look. "Oh yeah, trust _you_ to know how to successfully stalk someone," he scoffed. "_Mr. I Love Jailbait._"

Axel ignored Cloud entirely (it was something he enjoyed doing). He capped the mocha and started to work on the macchiato. And then a split-second later, _PING!_ An imaginary light bulb lit up and quite suddenly, Axel had an _idea_.

"Demyx?" he smiled broadly at the new co-worker. "You, my friend, are bringing out the orders to them."

"WHAT?"

"Just do it, kiddo."

"… Do I _have_ to?" he whimpered softly.

"_I'll_ do it," Cloud muttered apathetically. His was getting increasingly annoyed, not that his face actually showed it.

"No, no, let Demyx do it. He needs to learn that a crush will go completely _nowhere_ if you don't _take it somewhere!_"

Cloud sighed. Oh yeah, heeeere we go again with Axel's idiot logic. The blond individual began to wonder if God hated his guts. I mean, he _was_ currently working in this hellhole with a bunch of crazy retards (Leon not included – but that was debateable).

Seven minutes later, Axel was done with the beverages. He carted Demyx out the door with them in his hands and bade him good luck. Cloud accompanied the redhead and they stood by the counter, watching intently as the following drama unfolded itself like an epic episode from some epic television show (such as Invader Zim, Fullmetal Alchemist, The Simpsons or CSI: Miami – one of them, take your pick).

So, our wonderful newly-employed University of Twilight scholar set off on his short journey, trotting towards his fellow UT associates with drinks in hand and an uptight expression on his face.

"Ice blended mocha and hazelnut macchiato," Demyx recited robotically as he finally arrived at their table, avoiding eye contact with both seated customers, as though doing that would somehow make the other two think he were completely invisible.

Even from the counter, Axel and Cloud could tell that the newbie was nervous and edgy.

And then, much to Demyx's utter horror, the guy with the slate-coloured hair looked up and spoke directly to him. "Hey…" he murmured, his single visible eye boring a hole into Demyx's face. "I _know_ you. Aren't you from Mismatched Thirteen? The one on the guitar?"

Demyx blinked rapidly as he set down the hazelnut macchiato in front of the Silver-Haired fellow. His mouth was suddenly dehydrated, his tongue felt like it had shrivelled up like a prune, and his heart was beating in his chest like the drums at a System of a Down concert. After a few agonizing seconds, he allowed himself to turn and face the guy who had spoken, giving him a slow nod.

"You guys play at almost every single one of UT's cultural events. Demyx… right?"

At that, Demyx's brain screeched to a complete halt. OHMYGODHEKNOWSMYNAME! HOW?! SHITSHITSHITSHI—! Uh-oh.

The mocha fell to the floor, the icy contents in the cup splashing everywhere. The three at the table, plus the other two at the counter, watched the cup's descent in slow-motion – like how they do it in the movies. The way Demyx's fingers slackened just a fraction and let the cup tumble to the ground, colliding with the tiled surface, its plastic cover (along with its purple straw and all) giving way and spewing its cold sweet yumminess all over the place, making an interesting _splat_ noise.

It was awesome.

"DAMN IT! Oh, man!" Demyx's face went from _Holy Crap_ mode to _I Am Now Extremely Mortified Please Kill Me On The Spot_ mode in 0.14 seconds flat. "Shit. I am soso_so _sorry!" he yelped loudly, hastily grabbing a handful of napkins from the table and throwing them onto the floor, getting on hands and knees. He was thankful to see that the drink had only splattered onto the floor and _not_ onto both the customer's shoes (Converse chucks and Nike JUSTDOIT trainers respectively).

"Hey, uh, do you need some help?" Silver-Haired Guy asked with a frown as he looked down at Demyx.

"_Noooo_. I'm fine. It's cool!" Demyx gave a weak giggle, his voice a little high-pitched, as he scrubbed at the floor. But no matter how hard he tried, he only managed to make the squidgy mess even worse.

From the counter, Cloud both mentally and physically slapped himself on the forehead in exasperation while Axel just sighed and shook his head sadly. "That was one hell of a blockbuster failure right there," the redhead muttered under his breath. Then, he turned to Cloud. "Go get the mop and a bucket of water."

"ME? You were the one who sent him out to deliver the order!"

Axel rolled his eyes. "_You_ get the mop and bucket, _I'll_ clean the mess." He glanced over at Demyx and raised his voice, "Yo, Dem! Chill, bro. I've got it."

Demyx stood up quickly, expression a little wild, stray strands of his dirty blond hair fell into his eyes as he looked around at Axel with an expression of relief and gratitude.

"Hey, Demyx."

Demyx froze. Then turned back to the guy whose drink he had just obliterated. He was relieved to see that he didn't look pissed off or murderous (that was how Cloud looked, actually). In fact, the guy was just giving him a weird look.

"Um… y-yeah?" Demyx stuttered, voice hushed for some unknown reason.

"Could you maybe… well, y'know, get me a new drink? Please?"

Demyx turned red, his hands making restless butterfly motions in the air. "Of _course_! YES!" he squeaked and apologised profusely once more before making a run for it, straight back into the kitchen from whence he came to make another ice blended mocha.

Axel came to clean the mess a few moments later.

"Sorry about him," the redhead said as he swabbed at the floor, not making very much of an effort to avoid jabbing and nudging at their legs. "It's his first day and all. Kind of a spaz if you ask me. Don't hold it against him. He must've been awed by your good-looks." He winked at them. "For this slight inconvenience, could we maybe offer you two fine young gentlemen some _completely unnecessary foodstuffs?_"

* * *

For the rest of the evening, Demyx was wrapped up in his own little ball of depression. Leon had noticed this when he stepped back into the bar about an hour later _("Yo, boss man! That was one hell of a long-ass important phone call!"_). So, somewhere around 7:00PM (two hours before closing time), Leon decided that maybe he should lock up early. This very much reinforced the previous suspicion Cloud had that Demyx could possibly be closer to Leon. Mere acquaintances? Pah! More like kith and kin!

"Soooo, we're shutting the bar early. Hmmm, well, how 'bout we hit the streets and have a boys' night out? Like, the four of us?" Axel twittered excitedly. "I mean, we should totally cheer Demyx up before he turns into some suicidal emokid… Which might not be a bad thing if he wants to be McEmo's best friend." Axel scrunched his face up animatedly for a few moments, then shrugged, "Whatever. Let's go somewhere and have some coffee. My treat!"

Truthfully, Axel wasn't expecting much of a response to his suggestion. After all, Demyx was acting all semi-pathetic, Cloud was looking at him like he was insane and Leon was frowning with a look that clearly read: Hello? Do you not realise that we're currently standing _in_ a coffee bar?

But surprisingly, Leon started to nod his head, playing along. "Alright. That's a good idea. Let's go somewhere tonight. The four of us. Any suggestions?"

Axel grinned. Cloud didn't, but he didn't quite disagree with the proposition either. Demyx snapped out of his look-blankly-into-space phase and turned to the other three. "Hey, I know of a pretty great place!" he quipped. "And it's not that far away either. I can take you guys there!"

"Awesome! Let's close shop and get outta' here!"

* * *

Ten minutes later…

"Uh, Demyx?" Cloud's voice was disbelieving as the foursome walked into the very familiar café two streets down (it only took them like, five minutes to get there, so Demyx wasn't kidding when he mentioned that it wasn't too far away). The blond threw a look at Leon, who was tight-lipped and silent. "What are we doing here?"

"What do you mean 'what are we doing here'? It's Starbucks! They sell awesome coffee here!" Demyx replied with a small, happy smile, some of the memories of this afternoon's horrid mishap finally leaving his mind.

"Exactly," Cloud hissed. "Don't you know The Fix and Starbucks have been rivalling in the coffee business since… since forever?! Leon _hates_ Starbucks! Don't you?" he rounded on Leon, who still remained silent.

Axel shrugged. "Well, I suppose it can't hurt to just _try_ their inferior products."

"Whatever," Leon muttered and headed towards the counter where a very petite-looking lady with bright blonde hair stood, ready to take their orders.

No, actually, she stood, sneering at them in a very condescending, holier-than-thou manner. "Well, well, well," she mocked in a very high-pitched, wicked-sounding voice. "Look who we have here. Come to drink _our_ coffee, eh? What's wrong? _Your_ coffee not good enough?"

"Oh my _god_. Larxene's working at Starbucks!" Axel stage-whispered a little too late. Which was kind of pointless anyway, since only Leon knew who the hell this Larxene woman was. Cloud hadn't been working at The Fix when Larxene was there.

"Duh, Starbucks is only about a million times superior to TCF."

"TCF?" Axel looked confused.

"It's what we people here call your little substandard coffee house," their former co-worker (who, as mentioned briefly back in chapter one, quit working at The Fix because she found it unsatisfactory and well, she didn't like Axel's face very much) said derisively.

Leon, at the moment, was only giving Larxene a level stare (the type of stare that could probably, y'know, level buildings and shit). He knew it wasn't a good idea to come here. But now that they were actually standing in front of the counter and engaged in idle chitter-chatter with one of the staff members, they weren't just going to turn tail and walk back out. That was a very un-Leon thing to do. And thus, Leon was _so_ not going to do it.

"Right. Whatever. We'd like to _order_ some drinks please," the Leonhart countered dryly.

Larxene laughed as though it were the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard. And Cloud wanted to slap the bitch. Thankfully, said bitch had realised that she was holding up the line, so she nodded with a grin. "What'll it be, _fellas_?"

* * *

Ten minutes later, the four sat themselves down at a table with their drinks. And boy did they pick their table wisely, choosing to sit as far away from Larxene's insolent gaze as possible.

Then, Axel muttered something like, "Jesus, that cow has problems."

"Tell me about it."

"Whatever."

Cloud and Leon stared at each other for a moment, both shrugged in unison and then drank deeply from their beverage cups.

"Hey, I know! Let's play a game!" Demyx said excitedly out of the blue. "Truth or Dare!"

That was when Axel decided that Demyx was either one of those types of people who cheered up real quickly and moved on fast, or one of those types of people who got sidetracked easily with thoughts of self-entertainment and games that were high on the immaturity scale.

Leon sighed. "Demyx? Do I look like I'm ten years old?"

"Huh? Er… weeeell, if you squint a little and tilt you head at an angle—"

"I'm _serious_."

"Then no."

"Yeah, exactly."

"Aw, c'mon Leonhart!" Axel clapped his friend on the back good-humouredly. "What harm could a game of Truth or Dare do?"

"I would prefer _not_ to lose what's left of my precious dignity out here in public… In _Starbucks_ out of all places."

"Pfft. You're just too much of a chicken to play."

Leon gave the redhead another one of his level stares (even though it's been more or less established that Axel has some kind of immunity to them). "Am not."

"Oh, you definitely are!"

Two seconds ticked by.

"_Fine_. I'm in. Let's roll."

* * *

_**To be continued…**_

_**Author's Note:**__ Well now, Leon may have just done the most stupidest thing he's ever done._

_I know they've been gone for awhile, but Roxas and Sora reappear in the next chapter. :) Hooray for __**the only two high school kids**__ in this fic! (Insane grin) Looks like they're gonna be hangin__'__ with the big boys._

_I have an, uh, international question to ask you readers out there: which parts of the world do you people come from? Just curious. :D _

_Review? Concrit is welcome. Longwindedness is also welcome. Feel free to write me an essay telling me all about how silly Cloud is being or how strange Demyx is or how ROXASNEEDSMORE'SCREEN'TIME._


	5. Chapter 5: EARL GREY TEA

_**Author's Note: **__I was pleasantly amazed at how many people commented on the last chapter and said they really enjoy this fic so far. :) I mean, humour fics aren't exactly my forte. But I try. :D Anyway, I digress. Once more, I give my love to my readers and reviewers. Especially __**iluvtoady, Krazy Kitsune13, Hotaru-ai, Zheyne **__(woot! SUPER!RAMBLE for the win!)__**, itburns1234, 13loves8loves9loves6, kittygopop, undeniiablexx, Asuka Hyuuga, Kikyo Uchiha, Ravengir07's sister **__(you used your sister's account to review? LOL. Awesome.)__**, Harvest Moon Lover, Before-I-Fall, NightmareFairy, TheKabbageKat **__(I am the Parenthesis Master. Fear me!)__**, Geesesaymoo **__(Oh look! You got mentioned AGAIN!)__**, NarutoXxXLisa, soulholders, Hitokiri Musei, XyuOfTheBloodRedMoon **__(so __you're__ the mysterious Mystical Moon!)__**, sad kuroneko, Anya Urameshi, Axurel **__(dear God, a stalker!)__**, L.K. Bones**__ (I agree. The phrase is severely underused.)__**, cherry, xWhisperWolfx **__(here, have some of my vodka and Mars Bars! –handsyousome–)__**, Plain Jane Is A Vampire, RealityInABottle, XxShinka Mi-Mi ChanXx, auPHE **__(loved your ramble-y review! Sharpies vs. Magic Markers, I totally LOL'd) and __**cutiekitten. **_

_Thanks muchly for the support, y'all! _

* * *

**Chapter 5 – Earl Grey Tea**

**Earl:** _(noun) _A British Nobleman whose rank is below that of a marquis and above that of a viscount.  
**Grey: **_(noun) _Variant of 'gray'. An achromatic colour of any lightness between the extremes of black and white.  
**Tea:** _(noun) _A bitter, aromatic beverage that is prepared by immersing dried and prepared leaves of a _Camellia sinensis _shrub in hot water.  
**Earl Grey Tea: **_(noun)_ Leon's favourite hot beverage. Despite being the manager of a coffee bar, he insists that he hates the taste of coffee with a passion.

"_**They Said We Were Made Of Awesomeness."**_

So, there they sat, around one of the small café tables, the four of them – Squall _I-Am-Actually-Leon-Do-Not-Question-Me_ Leonhart, Cloud _I-Am-Not-A-Party-Goer_ Strife, Axel _I-Like-Oreo-Cookies-in-Milk_ Onér and Demyx _I-Think-Chocolate-Beats-Vanilla-Hands-Down!_ Aeco. Larxene was still pretty much shooting them scornful looks in their direction every few minutes, but they paid no heed to her strange antics and treated her like disregarded furniture. Why? Because there was a little Truth or Dare competition heating up at their table.

Of course, the participants were decidedly in emotional turmoil.

Cloud was still wondering whether Leon had hit his head on something sometime in the past ten minutes somehow (maybe it was the Starbucks beverage that made him go all strange, but Cloud doubted it) because seriously, a composed, demure, _dignified_ guy like _him_ couldn't possibly want to be part of this retarded children's game (even if not doing so may cause side effects such as certain redheads calling him 'chicken' for the rest of his life). Man, this had to be some sort of sick joke. Leon had just resigned himself to a silly high school teenage girl pastime! Cloud shook his head in disapproval, muttered "poor bastard" under his breath then looked over to the only other blond at the table, who seemed to be bobbing his head up and down merrily, subjecting his meticulously gelled-up hair to a sudden and inconvenient torture.

Demyx was smiling a happy, serene smile. There was no doubt here. The rocker kid was in a good mood tonight. Of course, the whole damn purpose of the_ let's close The Fix early and have a boy's night_ _out!_ plan was to get Demyx to cheer up after the unfortunate (but very funny) Oops I Dropped Your Mocha incident that took place that afternoon. It had been his first day on the job and despite that particular disaster, the punkster was starting to feel that his decision to take up the job offer at The Fix was a good one. He could already see that he was going to be great friends with his co-workers. _Surely_. Just look at how his boss was being such a good sport at his suggestion of game choice! What a supportive fellow!

Leon? He didn't quite care about the game, really. Quite on the contrary. The man just didn't want to be christened 'chicken' (or any other type of feathered fowl for that matter) for the rest of his life. So he set his face to Bring It On, Bitch and looked defiantly back at Axel.

The redhead was hyped. No, really. He was totally keyed up and running on a boatload of caffeine, grinning like he had just been offered a prestigious spot as an extra in one of Shakira's music videos. It was a creepy grin that was accentuated by his dual teardrop tattoos, crimson broom-head hair and sharp pointed teeth. It was the type of grin that would have scared little kids into comas.

Demyx spoke first, since everyone seemed to have been lost in their own little fantasy world for a few moments. He twirled a finger daintily in the air and finally pointed in the general direction of Leon. "Okay. Since you're so desperate to prove yourself of your manliness, why don't you go first? Truth or dare?"

Everyone shifted in their seats slightly for the session was now officially in motion. No one had to ask if the others were game. Axel was obviously in, and so was Demyx. Cloud couldn't escape the vicious circle and he damn well knew it. Axel would never let him live it down if he sat out. So he tried to act just a liiittle more interested, for the hell of it. Besides, this had the potential to turn out somewhat amusing (if not humiliating and life-ruining).

There was a slight pause on Leon's behalf as he mulled over his very short list of options for a moment. Then, Cloud heard him mutter something like 'truth' and the blond couldn't help but snort.

Axel went one better and laughed out loud. "Oooh… _truth_. Very manly, Leon. Very, _very_ manly."

Leon glowered at both Cloud and Axel for a split second, then shrugged casually as though refusing to be ruffled by this silly contest. "Alright," he said. "_Fine_. I'll do both for this round. Truth _and_ dare."

Cloud blinked. Was that even _allowed_? Axel gave a low whistle, somewhat impressed by Leon's sudden show of nerve and bravado (and maybe idiocy, but you can be the judge of that). "Wow, plucky little gutsy punk tonight, aren't we?" The redhead's grin widened as he wondered to himself how far he could push the boss before his calm, cool and collected exterior started to crack.

And then Demyx was bouncing excitedly in his chair, a hand half-raised in the air. "Ooh, ooh! I have a truth question to ask him! May I? May I?" he exclaimed with bright shiny eyes, looking to Axel, and then to Cloud, and then to Axel once more. Somehow, Cloud was reminded of the Energizer Bunny. Either that or a puppy on cocaine and a lot of sugar-filled products.

Axel shrugged. "Okay. Ask away. But I'm coming up with his dare. No questions asked," he said smirkingly as he took a sip of his drink (_Starbucks_… The Freshmaker. We Live to Deliver. It's Finger Lickin' Good. I'm Lovin' It. Just Do It. Insert Famous Slogan Here.).

"Sweet!" Demyx looked back at Leon. "Okay, here's your truth question. And don't give us some bogus answer, yeah?" The kid glared in something like a semi-threatening manner, if not for the fact that his ridiculously bizarre hair made him look nothing remotely close to threatening. "Do you, sir, have a girlfriend? Like, are you going out with someone?" he demanded. _Hah! _Demyx's inner self pumped a non-existent fist in the air triumphantly. _At last, the shining moment of truth has dawned!_

Leon raised an eyebrow. "… What?"

Demyx repeated his question as though the man was deaf. Which he was not. He heard it the first time.

Leon sighed. "Who told you I was… What gave you the impression…?" he huffed, crossed his arms, almost pouted (but remembered just in time that he had so much more poise and self-respect than to do something so lowly and inane), before muttering, "I'm not going out with anyone."

"LIES!" Demyx accused, pointing his Finger of Accusal for effect. "Axel said you've been making secret, _covert_ phone calls and _stuff_. That could only mean you've got some sort of secret, _covert_ love interest."

Axel looked at Cloud. "You know, I think Dem may be on to something."

Cloud rolled his eyes. _Well if he _is_, then that's a good thing, _he told himself._ At least then I'd know he's not as dense and stupid as I initially thought… Then again, Axel himself could be pretty air-headed without trying too hard._ The blond scrunched his face up tightly. _Morons._

Demyx, meanwhile, was relentless and ruthless. "Who did you call this afternoon when you walked out of The Fix? Huh? _Huuuuuh_?"

Leon looked at Demyx with an expression of utter bewilderment. Then, he narrowed his eyes and looked at all of them in suspicion (including Cloud, who was looking elsewhere with a bored expression on his face), suddenly realising that his employees had been talking (and possibly conspiring, gossiping and/or _scandalizing_) about him behind his back. "It was a business call," he sniffed disdainfully, "And you people had better not be eavesdropping on any of my phone conversations." He turned back to Demyx stiffly, face straight. "To answer your question quite bluntly, no, I'm not seeing anyone. If you haven't noticed, I've been too busy manning a coffee bar to have a decent relationship with someone. I mean, I practically _live_ in The Fix," he said, trying to force back a growl.

"Okay, _okay_. Fine, we believe you," Cloud grated, annoyed all of a sudden. "Jesus. Stop defending yourself. Who'd want to go out with _you _anyway? You're not even all that good looking." And that was a lie, of course, because Cloud knew Leon was about fifteen times more attractive than himself. It was his cold-hearted bitch demeanour that detracted from his appeal.

Leon's eyes flashed dangerously and his grip on his mug of hot tea tightened considerably.

Cloud went on like a drunkard, ranting and raving and scowling. "And if _you _haven't noticed, Mr. I Live A Busy Life – which I'm quite sure you have, but hey, I'll be empathetic to your lack of awareness – Axel and I man the bar too," he said in a voice that seemed to accuse Leon of taking away any form of normality in his life. "_Full-time_," the blond added vehemently. "Not part-time like the new kid."

Tension hung in the air for a quite a few moments after that.

Demyx laughed nervously and fiddled around with his half-filled cup of chai latte on the table and tentatively lifted it up to his cupid bow lips to take a small swig. Concealed hostility could be sensed as it sizzled in the air electrifyingly. Until Axel suddenly screamed out of the blue (okay, he didn't scream, because that would only give Larxene an excuse to throw them all out – but it was close enough).

"LEONHART! YOUR DARE IS TO KISS CLOUD. FOR FIVE WHOLE SECONDS."

Demyx would have successfully sprayed everyone with chai latte had he not conveniently choked in mid-sip of his drink.

Silence. Choke. Cough. Hack. Wheeze._ Egads, I'm dying!_ More silence.

And then Cloud exploded. "AXEL!" he snarled, "_What the hell?_ I don't get a say in the dare?! Okay, _that's it_. I want _out_. RIGHT. NOW."

Demyx started giggling insanely once he'd managed to clear his windpipe.

"You can't back out!" Axel exclaimed. "This isn't _your_ dare, you goof. It's Leon's. You're just a tool in this operation."

A _tool_?! There was a lot of spluttering and objecting coming from the blond. And before the situation could end in Axel rolling on the floor clutching his groin in agony, Leon half-rose out of his seat in calm, wordless silence, leaned across the table and planted a tiny five-second kiss on the Cloud's left cheek.

Cloud was frozen in mid-IHATEYOUYOUMUSTDIENOWAXEL-speech.

"No! Hey! What the cherry blossom apple pie was _that_ supposed to be?!" Axel gaped.

"You didn't say where," Leon explained, his voice monotonous as he sat down again. Clearly, he wasn't very aware that he had kind of broken Cloud's brain with something equivalent to a sledgehammer.

Axel was frowning. "Damn. I should've made it clear. Kiss him on the damn mouth. _Crap._ You're never going to pick 'dare' again, are you?" he muttered, "Blast. What a waste." And he couldn't even call Leon a chicken anymore because technically, he performed the dare fair and square.

Demyx cheered. "That was adorable!" He took his 3.5 megapixel Samsung D900 camera phone out of his pocket, pushed some random buttons rapidly and held it up. "Do it again! It would make the most awesomest picture ever!"

At this, Cloud's brain had finally pieced itself back together and started to work again.

He stood, his chair dragging across the ground with an ominous scr_eeeeeee_ch.

"Excuse me," he said icily to them, expression distant. He was totally avoiding any sort of eye contact with Leon as though his boss didn't exist in this tangible world any longer. "I have to visit the restroom." _To plot all your murders. _"And put your phone away," he growled at Demyx, disgusted.

He stalked off in a random direction, presumably to where he thought the toilets were.

"Ooooooh," Demyx oohed. "I think he's angry." He shrugged. "That was still pretty cool, though." And he grinned at Leon. "That was bold. Honestly, I didn't expect you to do it."

Leon shrugged. "Well I'm not a damn chicken and you know it."

"But now Cloud's going to hate you. And all of us."

Axel waved a hand in the air nonchalantly, clearly unconcerned. He knew Cloud during his high school years. The silly blond would get over something like that in like two minutes flat. "Don't you worry about him. He may be a party pooper, but he comes around pretty quick. Anyways… Demyx! Truth or dare?"

"Ah. Umm… Dare, I guess…"

"You sure?"

"Yup."

"Okay, hotshot. Go up to Larxene and ask her for her bra size."

* * *

Two minutes later…

Axel was astonished and perplexed as Demyx came back from the counter where, just moments ago, he'd been talking to Larxene. The redhead was bewildered. Demyx didn't look… well, _dead_. "Did you get it?" he asked him curiously, still unsure as to why Demyx hadn't been slapped or assaulted by the Starbucks bitch.

"Oui, mon confrère," Demyx nodded in affirmative, but he was looking a little baffled and disoriented. "That and _more_," he mumbled awkwardly, producing a paper napkin with the Starbucks logo emblazoned across it along with some black Sharpie scribbles that looked suspiciously like numbers. "I got her number too. She insisted that I call her." He waved the napkin in front of their faces and made a gagging noise.

Leon smirked a little maliciously. "Maybe we should use that number to prank her. I still need to get her back for calling The Fix a hole in the ground."

Axel stared at Leon for a few seconds. "Riiiiiiight. Okay. You come up with the weirdest ideas, man." And he turned to Demyx, who was taking his seat. "Damn, that Larx is one crazy lady."

Demyx shrugged. "She was actually quite nice to me."

"Because she wants to eat you, dumbass. Why do you think she gave you her number?"

"Huh. You have a point," Demyx conceded, then laughed uneasily and shredded the napkin under the table discreetly, littering the floor with its tatters.

"Where's Strife?"

"Maybe he got lost."

But no, he didn't get lost. And Cloud came back a minute later, looking noticeably more tranquil and relaxed. He even looked a little happier than normal. Which was very _not_ normal.

"Hey guess what?" the blond said loudly, holding up a rectangular piece of paper. "I found fifty bucks on the floor in one of the restroom cubicles."

Everyone just sort of stared at him. Axel turned to Demyx and Leon. "See? Told ya he'd come around."

* * *

"Axel, truth or dare?"

"Truth. For now."

"Okay…" Demyx racked his brains for something to ask the redhead. "Hmm… Well, er, are you ever going to settle down and I dunno, get married?"

Leon and Cloud snorted. Was that supposed to be a question you posed to somebody like Axel?

The redhead _tch_ed and pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Well… I don't know if I'm ready to do something so silly as to _get married_. Although I _do_ know that if I ever do, it's not gonna be with some plastic Barbie doll chick with flashy peroxide hair, I can tell you that. They're just so… one-dimensional. And too… girly."

"Alright, alright. We get it. You're not straight."

"I prefer to be known as _bi_sexual, because I _do_ look at ladies occasionally. But yeah, I guess I'm not totally straight as an arrow."

"So long as you're not trisexual, we're fine," Leon said dryly.

* * *

"Cloud? Truth or dare? Wait… I don't even have to ask. What's _your_ sexual preference? And don't you lie to us."

"I'm straight."

"Wow. No complications there," Demyx laughed.

Cloud nodded, but there was this weird irksome feeling that was starting to develop in his head that troubled him somewhat.

* * *

"Leon?"

"Truth."

"Bastard. Pick '_dare'_ again, goddammit!"

"Whatever."

"Gah! Fine. Why the hell did you pick such an unoriginal, unproductive name to replace _Squall_?"

"… I didn't know what to change it too. _Leon_ sounded normal enough. I just wanted a regular, common, household name. Not something like… _Squall_."

"I quite like the name Squall," Demyx quipped.

"Yeah. It's got character, or whatever," Axel added his two cents worth, "I mean, at least you can find it in the dictionary. Unlike _Leon_."

* * *

"Dem?"

"Truth."

At this, Cloud jumped at his first chance.

"Just how are you and Leonhart related?" the blond demanded a little too harshly.

Demyx looked startled, then glanced at Leon with an embarrassed, sheepish smile. "Uhhhh… If you really_ must _know," he murmured, "about seven months back, I met Leon at a Birthday Massacre concert. I had two backstage passes – special clearance and all that jazz – cuz I'm so leet and I've got connections to Very Important People. Aaanyway, my mate from M.T. couldn't make it with me, so I sort of just walked up to any old random dude in the crowd, who turned out to be Leon, and asked him if he wanted to come meet the Birthday Massacre people backstage. He was pretty stoked about it and said yes and we, uh, we hit off from there."

"Oh."

"What's _Empty_?" Axel asked.

"You mean M.T.? Mismatched Thirteen. My band I formed at college."

"Hmm… What's _leet_?"

"… Er, no clue. I learnt it over the internet."

* * *

"Ax?"

"_Dare_."

* * *

The four got kicked out of the café after that. Not by Larxene, but by some other guy whose name tag read: _Seifer Almasy_. He really didn't like it that the redhead had attempted to carve something like 'Starbucks sux, Caffeine Fixation Pride Foreva!!' into the table with his pocket knife.

* * *

It was almost 9:00PM. The four of them leisurely ambled down the narrow Darcia Lane in the semi-darkness. At least with the sun gone, Summer wasn't so bad.

"Well, that was fun," Demyx said, swinging his arms in the air cheerfully, the shiny bracelet chains around his wrists glinting against the street's lamplights.

"Yeah, _fun_. Until Axel actually went through with his stupid dare and got us banned from that place for five months," Cloud retorted sarcastically.

"Hey, at least I managed to get half my message engraved into the table."

"It said 'Starebacks Sex'…"

"Close enough!"

"Guys, shut up!"

There was a noise coming from Leon's pocket. The lyrics "Maybe I'm a lion" resounded loudly, followed by some hardcore rock music. And then his pants started to vibrate. No, this isn't a joke.

It was his cell phone.

He fished the flashy Nokia N95 out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. The Caffeine Fixation owner raised an eyebrow before answering it.

"Hello?"

What followed after was a series of grunts and noises of denial and headshakes (although why he would shake his head when he was talking over a phone was beyond the other three).

"Yeah. You did? Huh… And I wasn't? … You didn't catch me there? … Oh. No, I actually stepped out for awhile this afternoon… You _serious_? … Yeah, uh-huh. Cool. Right. Listen, I'm kinda in the middle of something right now. I'll call you back later. See ya."

He ended the call.

"Who was that?" Axel asked in a very cavalier manner.

"Riku," Leon replied, equally as cavalier.

"That name sounds vaguely familiar to me somehow," Demyx said to himself under his breath contemplatively.

"Who's Riku?" Axel went on to question Leon.

"My cousin."

"Oh."

"He said he stopped by The Fix this afternoon. But I guess I wasn't in at the time. Did you guys see him? Probably did."

"We don't even know what the hell he looks like."

Leon shrugged. "He's kinda tall."

"Yes," Axel nodded sagely. "_Thank you_ for describing about half the people who walked into the bar while you were out."

"I'm not good at descriptions."

"Pfft. Yeah. You can say that again."

And then Demyx glanced at his watch (a very cool Rolex watch, I might add, that he got for his eighteenth birthday from his Secret Santa).

"Merde!" the blond swore (in French). "Look at the time! Oh man. I gotta get back home early. I have class tomorrow!" He looked up at his fellow workmates. "Um… I have to take a bus back cuz I live on the other side of town. So I guess I have to go now, dudes."

Leon nodded. "Sure."

"I don't work on Thursdays, so you guys'll see me the day after tomorrow. Ah, well. I had fun! See you people on Friday! Bye!"

And with that, he rushed off in a hurry, leaving the three others behind.

They started walking back towards the direction of The Fix. Leon's shiny black five-seater car was parked by the road somewhere in front of the bar. Axel usually took a cab home and Cloud lived in a dingy apartment three blocks away so he walked to and from work on a daily basis (refer to chapter one).

They strolled in silence for awhile. The shadowy streets were devoid of cars, but only because they weren't usually very busy at this hour. Axel started to hum to some completely random theme song from Super Smash Bros Brawl (Final Destination).

Then, Leon spoke up.

"Okay, I have a confession to make," he muttered quietly. "Contrary to what I said earlier, I'm actually going out with someone."

"… Oh?" Axel looked interested. "Who?"

"A girl."

"Well, aren't _you_ Mr Specific. Does she have, y'know, some sort of name maybe?"

"Her name's Rinoa. Met her through a mutual friend of mine, Irvine Kinneas."

"And here I thought you met her on some speed dating website."

Leon gave Axel one of his freaky stares again. But he did not give the redhead any satisfaction by telling him that his friend Irvine came _very_ close to being exactly like a speed dating website. The charming socialite knew all the hot chicks in town. And every single, unattached bachelor too, for that matter.

"Whatever."

Cloud was silent as his brain processed this new bit of information with so much difficulty that he had to wonder if there was something wrong with him. So the smug bastard had a girlfriend. So what? It didn't matter to him in the slightest, right? Riiiight? _He's just my stupid boss._ Cloud scowled inwardly at himself and without thinking, involuntarily rubbed at his left cheek. _Ah, shit._

They finally reached The Fix, where they got ready to part ways and head home for the night.

"Oh, yeah, and uh, just a heads up," Leon said as he took his car keys out to unlock his very-cool Volvo. "I'll be bringing in two other part-time newcomers tomorrow mid-afternoon, so I'm going to need you two to be on your toes at all times and act as supervisors. Unlike Demyx, they've hardly had any experience in dealing with customers."

* * *

The next day (a.k.a. Thursday)…

Mid-afternoon came quickly and Leon, true to his word, walked in with two completely new co-workers from the back door. Only, they weren't exactly new faces.

Axel caught sight of them and nearly dropped the mug he was drying with a dish cloth, then jabbed Cloud in the ribs hard (and painfully).

"Oh my _god_, do you see what I see?"

The blond smacked Axel upside the head before looking towards Leon.

"This is Sora and Roxas," Leon introduced patiently (disregarding his employees' preceding retarded behaviour), waving vaguely at the two (incredibly) short adolescent teenagers standing side-by-side to his right. One had messy chocolate brown hair, the other had equally messy golden blond hair. They both had large, sparkly blue eyes. One looked gleeful to be in The Fix, the other looked not-quite-as-gleeful.

Blondie and Brownie were back. In black.

(No, really, their standard uniforms were black).

And Cloud gaped.

"…You have _got_ to be shittin' me."

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ -SNORT- It's just one calamity after another. And okay, so Sora and Roxas didn't get a main part in this one. But they will in the next. Honest! And it will be extreme. Complete with violence and drama and molestation and all that jazz. ;)_

_So yeah, I compiled the list from my little international survey from the previous chapter. It seems that the majority of you live in the US of A. No surprises there! :D There were quite a few from Canada and the Netherlands too. That's awesome! _

_I guess it's my turn to do the favour of disclosing my current location. Here's a hint: I TOTALLY COME FROM THE LAND DOWNUNDER. To be precise, Queensland, Australia. :D Who would've guessed? I'm not originally from Australia, though. I was born in Outer Spa— I mean Singapore. Fifty boxes of Axel's homemade cookies to anyone who knows where the hell that is._

_Erm… Leave a review? :)_


	6. Chapter 6: TOFFEE NUT LATTE

_**Author's Note: **__Welcome back to The Fix. Feel free to wander around and observe the bar's working staff and delve into their highly complex (?) minds for your own personal amusement. To those who've reviewed chapter 5, drinks are on the house. This means __**Harvest Moon Lover, kittygopop, DorkFace, RealityInABottle, Geesesaymoo, Hitokiri Musei, NarutoXxXLisa, auPHE, Yunie Tatlin, Axurel, Suna's Assassin, NightmareFairy, alicesyndrome, MandaShmanda, Aizawa Mika, soleil noire, casaragi, sad kuroneko,**__**XyuOfTheBloodRedMoon, smilenlaugh4vr, i-see-faeries, 13loves8loves9loves6, cutiekitten, xWhisperWolfx, majesticlunacy, leafyaki, Shinigami shinkie, Kiyoko-kun **__and __**Fail the real squid.**_

_Thank you __**MandaShmanda **__for pointing out the little error in the previous chapter. :) I have fixed it. Gee, I really need to find myself a beta reader or something. Oh! And to __**XyuOfTheBloodRedMoon**__, I believe I've sent you a PM, but in case you didn't get it, happy belated birthday (again)!_

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Toffee Nut Latte**

**Toffee:** _(noun) _A kind of sugary sticky sweet made from butter and caramelized sugar.  
**Nut: **_(noun) _A hard-shelled, one-seeded fruit, such as the hazelnut or macadamia nut.  
**Latte:** _(noun) _An espresso usually topped with frothy, steamed milk.  
**Toffee Nut Latte: **_(noun)_ Rikku's number one favourite. And it's banana milkshakes for Yuna and flat whites for Paine.

"_**Away, foul demon! Lest I slay thee with this sharp, pointy thing!"**_

Wednesday night had left Cloud Strife in utter shambles like a recently demolished building. It was downright possible that the nightmare that was _Starbucks_ would haunt him forever and ever… until the day came where he would be buried six feet under rocks and gravel and fertilized dirt, or something equally dramatic. Which won't happen for a very long time to come. And so, Cloud Strife would be forced to live his days with the entire episode plaguing his unsullied mind.

The atrocious incident had forced the poor man to mull over his previous beliefs about his co-workers. Well, apart from the redheaded one. That bitch had been an asshole. As per usual. Nothing out of the ordinary about that. _One day, I swear that son of a goddamn Mutated Poogle will go down in flames, never to be reborn again, _Cloud had sworn to himself vehemently.

Demyx. Dem-freaking-myx. He'd known that _walking disaster_ for like, less than twenty-four frigging hours, and he already wanted to punch him square in the face just to see what the hell kind of reaction he would get from the punk-musician-barista-psycho hybrid. Would he let loose a shriek and drop to the ground like a pathetic sack of potatoes? Or would he return the blow with a tight bitch slap of his own (complete with war cry and all) and then launch into a tirade about ethics and principles of morality? Or _maybe _the idiot would just fix him with a rejected look of sadness, which would then morph into a happy little smile and then he'd skip off like nothing happened. Cloud found it enormously disturbing that all three accounts were quite plausible. Oh, and what the _fuck _was_ up _with his hair for crying out loud?! Damn kids these days… just _when _had mullets and mohawks fused together to form a fashion statement?

And Leon. Oh god, Leon. He didn't even _want_ to go there. No. Cloud did not even want to _think_ about that man. But then! Said man had brought in brand spanking new trainee baristas (what the hell, we _have_ to stop using that term in this coffee bar!) and Cloud lost all self-control. Really, the blond was a pretty patient, tolerant, long-suffering chap. But as far as all patient, tolerant, long-suffering people go, they've surely gotta snap _some_ time.

"You cannot seriously be _serious_!" he spluttered with absolute seriousness, voice hitching an octave higher with every syllable articulated. Actually, he stumbled over his words, eating them somewhat, and what he said sounded more like _y'knotsrslybeSRS!_ …No, really. It was a miracle anyone understood him. And his mouth was (no, not foaming) hanging agape in fury and disbelief, one of his fingers pointed directly towards the general direction of Sora and Roxas.

Leon deadpanned. "Live with it, Strife," the boss man said unsympathetically, indicating that yes, he _had_ indeed grasped what his employee had blurted.

"I know _I_ can!" Axel chirruped gaily. "Leon! You are my hero!"

_Urge to kill tall, elevated redhead: rising… _a small voice in Cloud's mind intoned. "Ugh… We've gone from being understaffed to being severely _over_staffed in a matter of two days," the blond muttered darkly under his breath with a frown so vicious that it actually made Sora squirm uneasily. Cloud was getting quite irked by Leon's behaviour lately. Screw that, he was getting _dreadfully_ irked. Popping up out of nowhere all of a sudden every goddamn time (oh that _never _gets old), hiring that queer retard Demyx (how the _hell_ did he even get into UT?!), playing that dumb baby game at Starbucks last night (the power of Axel compels you!), then _kissing him_ (dfndjfkefjhlfnwtfOSKSD??)… And now employing two noobcakes (of all people)?!

The Strife was beginning to think that maybe this was some sort of conspiracy/plot/scheme against him that had everything to do with Leon's stupid new girlfriend.

… _Fuck._

Now why the heck would he think _that_? And why the heck did he suddenly have this strange desire to want to _murder_ said new girlfriend?

There was something very weird going on, he decided.

Anyways, after they had all entered the kitchen to get acquainted with the new kids (whilst Leon, in an act of graciousness, took charge up front), it only took Axel all but seven (maybe eight, but Cloud was pretty sure it was seven) seconds to start hitting on his main target. Y'know, the unsociable one with the blue flinty eyes and first class dirty blond hair?

The silly redhead had his most charming smile in place as he mock-casually leant against the divider and eyed the Goldilock-ed one in a most disturbing manner that Cloud had to look away, lest his eyes fall out of their sockets and clattered onto the floor.

"Hiiiii. You must be Sora," Axel all but purred.

Blond kid stared at him. It wasn't a stare of stupefaction. It was closer to one of those Leon stares.

"Uh, no dude. _I'm _Sora," the brown-haired one said, shaking his head. "_He's _Roxas."

Axel blinked, totally and utterly jibbed. "Ah, fuck. Right, _riiiight_!" he exclaimed quickly with an apologetic smile directed at Roxas. "Of course! A kid like _you_ would never get stuck with the way girlier name!"

"Hey!" Sora yelped indignantly, a pout gracing his adolescent-esque features. "Standin' right here, red!"

_Oh great, _Cloud groaned inwardly. _We have another Demyx. Great going, Leonhart, you prat._ He looked toward Axel with a headshake."Ax. Stop picking on the new kids," he drawled in an apathetic tone. If they were going to be like that, fine. He'd just play the unfriendly little bitch.

"Shut it, _Cuh-louuud_," Axel said, sticking his tongue out, underscoring his blond co-worker's name in heavy emphasis.

Cloud scowled deeply. What the—? The _nerve_! Really! There was no need to attack _his_ name. What was wrong with the name _Cloud_? Helloooo, at least it wasn't _girly_ dammit.

"Yeah, anyway, as I was saying," Axel continued, "Well, no, I wasn't saying, but hey, my name's Axel. A-X-E-L. Or whatever. Just call me Ax, like everyone does. The one gnashing his teeth over there's Cloud Strife. He just _loves_ raining on your tea parties, if you get my drift," he smirked his royal smirk. "Real stormy, that one. He would be better off with the name Squall."

And the redhead laughed at his own joke. Which would have been worth something if only it wasn't just him laughing alone.

Cloud clenched a fist. Unclenched it. Clenched it again. And he repeated that action over and over until it drained his anger and agitation away. Ah yes, those stress-relieving sessions with his Zen instructor Ansem the Wise and Obsolete had taught him some useful tricks on how _not_ to die too early of spiking blood pressure.

"I thought you guys were rich," Axel was now saying. "Why work at a coffee place?"

At this, Roxas made a disgruntled noise. Cloud had yet to hear a coherent sentence from this boy. Truly.

Sora beamed like a five-pointed star (if that was even remotely possible). "Experience, duh! Money can't buy you everything y'know? Plus hey, I ain't rich! Who said I was rich? Haven't we already been through this?" He grinned an impish grin. "We're only working here every afternoon once school's out though. Not full-time or anything. The pay's not much, but like I said, work experience for the win!"

Roxas cut in evenly, voice smooth and boyish (like a pop singer's voice). "The _fact_ of the matter is: I'm only here because _Sora's_ here."

"Yeah," Sora nodded, spiky hair bouncing up and down eccentrically. "I told him I wanted to work here and the first thing he said to me was—"

"—you're freakin' crazy, you—"

"—bitch. And then I said, 'okay, fine, call me a crazy bitch, but I'm _still_ gonna work at the Caffeine Fixation because it seems like a cool place. Plus their poster thingy said they needed help'. And then Rox was all like, 'dude, you _can't_ be _serious_', and I was like, 'uh, chyah, I _toootally_ am'. And he said, 'what if you get friggin' _molested_ by that creep?' and I was like, 'he was _not_ a creep! I think he liked you!' And he just gave me his what-the-fuck face, glared, then told me he'd apply for the job with me. For my 'protection'."

Silence reigned for a moment or two as the boy caught his breath.

Then Cloud muttered, "Oh, well, I think it's gonna be Roxas who'll be needing protection."

"Please _do_ tell me who you were referring to when you said 'creep'?" Axel asked, ignoring Cloud completely.

"You," Roxas replied bluntly, face unsmiling, voice hard.

"Hmm, well, okay. Let's get one thing straight here, Roxy—"

"Call me that again and I will rip yo—"

"—I won't go groping your friend Sorwhatsit—"

"_It's SORA_!"

"—Scout's honour. No, I was never a scout. But hey, take my word for it. I neeeever lie."

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "You never lie?"

"N_eeeeeee_ver. Besides, what's so special about _Sora_?"

"I'm standing right here!" Sora whined.

"Yeah, whatever, kid. I ain't blind." Axel waved a hand in the air dismissively. "As I was saying, I've got my sights set on someone else." And he grinned at Roxas.

Roxas stared back at Axel for like, a full minute or something. Then, he swore. "Fuck. So it _was_ me that first time. Not Sora. Oh, goddammit!"

"What? You thought I was hitting on _that_ guy?" Axel was dumbfounded. "No way!"

"Aw, man!" Sora squealed. "Stop dissin' me!"

Roxas looked more than a little put out as he crossed his arms with an exasperated sigh.

Cloud slapped a hand to his forehead spectacularly. "Okay, _look guys_, as much as this is all plenty amusing to everyone, let's try to wrap this brainless conversation up, okay?" He looked at the redhead pointedly. "Ax? _Don't_ harass the kids, or I'll get Leon to kill you. In fact, I might just do it myself. Roxas? Feel free to bring a switchblade to work from now on, unless you know kung fu or any other similar badass martial arts. Sora? Keep an eye on your friend whenever you can. If he's being attacked by redheaded stalkers, call the police."

"Oh for crying the fuck out loud, Strife!" Axel exclaimed. "I'm not going to—"

"Save it," Roxas growled at Axel, then muttered to Cloud, "It's fine. This won't be the first time I've had a stalker on my tail. I can deal with it myself."

Sora giggled. "It's cuz you're so pretty, Rox."

Just then, Leon's voice cut in from the doorway. "Hey, people? If you're about done back there, I think you should know that we have incoming. The usual five o'clock crowd."

"Ah, damn," Cloud turned to Sora and Roxas. "Well, you guys came at the right time. I believe we're about to endure the Thursday evening swamp."

* * *

True enough, in the span of less than five minutes or less, the entire bar was full of people. It seemed like a war zone.

"Cloud? You grab one of the new guys to supervise and take the front. The rest of us'll be backing you from the kitchen," Leon instructed, taking charge. "Keep the orders coming."

That order was the signal for a _Code Red People, Time To Suit Up And Get To Work Before We Get Snowed Under _at The Fix. Axel grabbed onto Roxas before Cloud could say anything and smiled at his sullen co-worker. "SHOTGUN! Sorry Cloud dude, I call dibs on Roxas. You can have the Sorarah kid. Teach him something new. Make him be the messenger boy or something. Have fun! Byeee!"

And Cloud and Sora were left at the counter while Leon and Axel (dragging Roxas) disappeared through the kitchen doors.

"Fuck you, Axel," Cloud growled inaudibly. He _had _been thinking of snagging Roxas before Axel had a chance to because Roxas seemed like the more sensible one out of the two kids. In fact, Roxas actually seemed like a miniature version of himself. Which was kind of very freaky, but at least he wasn't half-crazy. Damn. Now he was stuck with _Sora_. ARGH. The world was being a real pain in the ass.

"Okay," he sighed and motioned at the puzzled Sora. "I'll be taking people's orders and cashing their cash in the register. You be a good boy and run back and forth with the orders. Capiche?"

"Le comprehendo, mon capitain!" Sora saluted.

_Oh, don't you dare pull a Demyx, you freak!_ Cloud wanted to snarl, but was cut off at the right moment.

"Exc_uuuuuse_ me? Could I like, maybe order something puh-_lease_?" Some impatient, whiny, anorexic-looking girl with long blonde hair, a blue bandana and possibly the most revealing outfit Cloud had ever laid his eyes on had sashayed up to the counter. "Hello? I'm waiiiiting. And my girlfriends are waiting outside in the car too. Step it up, you slowpoke!" She tapped her white-blue boots testily with a tap-tap-tap on the polished floor.

"What the hell do y— Oh. It's _you_ again," Cloud glowered when he realised who it was. The girl was a regular at the bar. And she was Queen Bee of the Hyperactive A.D.D. Beehive of Terror.

"Yes, _me_. Hurry up, Strifeman! Paine will muuurder me if we're late for the movie. And I'm telling you, we _will _be late for the movie because Yunie drives like a _snail_ and the movie starts in _ten_ minutes and the _damn_ cinema is like _fifteen_ minutes _away_ and you _neeeeed_ to make us one banana milkshake, one flat white and one toffee nut latte; large, large and _large_ – takeaway – like, NOW."

"Woah, woah, hang on! I'm not Superman for crying out loud!"

"Yeah, but you're _Strifeman_! Nana-nana-nana-nana STRIFEMAN!"

Cloud resisted the mounting urge to pick up the cash register and throw it at her, but figured he didn't have big enough guns to do so. That and the fact that Leon might gut him if he tried. Plus it would set a bad example for the new kid.

"OKAY. Could you… please… repeat… your order… again?" Cloud said through clenched teeth.

But amazingly, Sora had already written all three orders down. He jabbed Cloud in the ribs before taking off.

"Your drinks will be done in a minute, lady!" he yelled loudly over his shoulder as the brunet raced spastically into the kitchen with his piece of scribbled-on paper.

Cloud gaped. Well… Sora seemed efficient enough.

"Wow. Is he new? I've never seen him around before."

"Yeah…" Cloud choked out. "He's new. Like, half-an-hour-type new."

"Gee, I wonder. If you poke him with something sharp, d'you think he'll start bleeding copious amounts of Red Bull?"

"That's… highly likely."

"Does he have a name?"

"Oh, _hell_ no. You are _not_ calling him _Soraman_."

"… Wasn't gonna."

"Suuuure."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at HQ (hindquarters, not headquarters), Axel was clearly not supervising Roxas like he was supposed to.

"Look here, motherfucker," Roxas was snarling, "Call me sexy one more time and I _will_ tear your arm off and use your own damn fingers to strangle you to death."

"Axel," Leon called loudly over to the redhead when their banter reached his ears, "You _do_ know that sexual harassment in the workplace is an offense punishable by law."

"What's wrong with stating the truth?!" Axel yelled back. "He_ is_ sexy!"

Sora ran in. "Three orders!" he announced, pressing the memo into his boss's hands and running back out again.

"That kid's pretty quick at taking orders," Leon noted as he handed the order to Axel. "Now Axel, go do your damn job and make the drinks. Roxas will need to learn how to make them. So teach him. _Properly_."

Axel rolled his eyes and looked down at what Sora had scribbled.

He frowned visibly, tilting the piece of paper this way and that as though trying to read a particularly confusing and mind-bending map.

"… Uhhhh… Is this in Latin or something? What the hell is a… a _L bane machete_? _L_ _Flak while_? _L Toffee new LATRINE_?" He looked up slowly with a blank expression on his face. "… Roxas, is your friend dyslexic?"

"_What?_" The blond snatched the note from Axel's fingers and read it out loud. "Banana milkshake, flat white, toffee nut latte. And I think the L's are for large."

"Holy crap. You can _read_ that?"

"I think maybe _you're_ the dyslexic one."

"Huh… You may have a point there. Okay, whatever. Let me give you a demonstration on how to make a banana milkshake. Cuz, you know—" Axel wriggled his eyebrows and grinned widely, "my milkshake _toooootally_ brings all the boys to the yard."

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_ _College has started again. Boo. I'll swap places with any high school kid right now. Law school's no fun. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of YDCF._

_If it's not too much trouble, please review! I want your constructive criticism and valuable input. I want you to rant and rave and tell me which parts of this chapter deserved to burn in hell. Of course, you could also rant and rave and tell me which parts were totally awesome and deserved some apple pie. But that's totally optional. :)_


	7. Chapter 7: VANILLA MILKSHAKE

_**Author's Note: **__Ah, fuck. Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. It's been what? Two weeks? Oops. But it's a fairly lengthy one, so I guess that's okay._

_I want to express my heartfelt thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter. You guys freaking rock my socks. Since there are so many of you, I don't think I can list you all. Nevertheless, I want you people to know that you're all pretty much the main reason I keep writing._

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Vanilla Milkshake**

**Vanilla:** _(noun) _A flavouring obtained from the extract of the long, narrow podlike fruits of the tropical orchid of the genus _Vanilla_ that sports fleshy leaves and clusters of highly fragrant white or green or topaz flowers.  
**Milkshake: **_(noun) _A frothy drink derived from cold milk, flavouring (such as banana, vanilla, caramel, chocolate, strawberry, blah-blah-blah), and usually ice cream, blended together via mixer or shaker.  
**Vanilla Milkshake:** _(noun) _The only drink that Rinoa Heartilly (a.k.a. I'm blue, if I were green I would die if I were green I would die) would ever order from _any_ café. Like she says: "I want my stimulating pick-me-up _à la vanilla _style, with lots and lots of milk". 'Nuff said.

**"_This Must be Where the Deer and the Antelope Play."_**

Friday morning came rather quickly for Axel Onér. Totally _zoom_, y'know? Which was not to say that it came equally as nippy to Cloud Strife. In fact, Cloud was currently, in all his furious glory, busily (and quite passionately) cursing God within the mental recesses of his mind and demanding to know why in the blue hell this entire week was going by so damn slowly. Of course, God didn't reside in a corner of the mental recesses of said mind, so he didn't quite get an actual answer. Not that it mattered anyways, because the blond was for all eternity tied down to his career as a lowly full-time Caffeine Fixation employee.

Nevertheless…

He stormed into The Fix that morning, glaring guns and daggers at no one in particular (due to the obvious fact that there wasn't anyone to glare _at_). He was only ten minutes late this time around. Leon Leonhart (fucking idiot with the stupidest pseudo name ever) hadn't clocked in yet. Good. Great. Fucking _brilliant_. And was it so weird that the blond secretly wanted to look at his boss' face? His stormy eyes? His fucking awesome, totally permanent scar? Gah! Cloud shook his head and cleared it of awful thoughts like those. No, no, no! This was _not happening_! He, the young and almighty _manly_ twenty-two year-old _Cloud Strife,_ was not, most definitely _not_, I repeat _not_ falling for that aristocratic, arrogant, revolting _prat_.

Axel, the only occupant of the bar at the moment, eyed him from behind the counter for all but 1.38 seconds before continuing to whistle in tune to the song playing on the radio.

_I believe the world is burning to the ground, oh well, I guess we're gonna find out, let's see how far we've come, let's see how far we've—_

"Flip the fucking channel, moron. I fucking hate this song and—" Cloud tramped over to the radio and glared at it menacingly (it was amazing that the contraption didn't just blow up on the spot and shower them in shards of plastic and wires), "—I fucking _hate_ this station." He proceeded to tune the radio until he located his favourite station, upped the volume more than was reasonably necessary and soon, symphonic power metal enveloped the entire bar like the lava in a lava lamp.

Axel _tsk_ed and shook his head, expression just a tad incredulous and on the _what the hell is up with you this time?_ side of the amused spectrum. "Either you're feeling particularly suicidal right now for some very-much-unknown-to-me reason, or some asshole stole your wallet on the way here."

"_Neither_," Cloud bit back moodily. "So shut up."

Axel shrugged. "Hey, don't bite _my_ head off. I don't know why you're so friggin' pissed—although it _is_ 7:14 in the morning—that might have something to do with it, but I highly doubt that. Hmm…" the redhead took a closer look at Cloud's terrifying face. Dark circles, red-tinted eyes, evident puffiness, drooping eyelids.

_Biiiingo_.

"Didn't get any sleep last night?" he asked innocently; artlessly.

Cloud growled and didn't bother giving the redhead an articulated response. He figured the redhead didn't deserve one.

Nope, the blond sure as hell wasn't about to let Axel (of all people in the universe, oh gods _no_) know he'd been up all night trying to come to terms with _a lot of things_ that no, he'd _so_ rather not think about right now thankyouverymuch.

He was saved further embarrassing questioning when a tall, self-imposing man walked in, all serious and business-like, as though it was of the utmost import to get a steaming cup of coffee from this godforsaken place. Pfft. Cloud snorted at the thought and went over to stand beside Axel behind the counter.

"Oh hey, I've seen him before!" Axel stage-whispered to Cloud as the customer made a beeline towards them. "I think he's a regular."

"No shit," Cloud muttered uncaringly.

The man wore a black suit and tie, totally immaculate and professional-looking. He had a pair of expensive shades on, which made him look like some top-of-the-range guy from the Men In Black. In all honesty, he would have looked almost intimidating to Axel if it weren't for his oddly-coloured _hair_. This must be Agent P. Y'know, P for _Pink_. And damn, those shades looked _sooo_ _boss_.

"Hello, my fellow acquaintances," the man stated in a regal, _I-Am-So-Totally-Awesome_ tone as he came to stop at the counter, taking his dark glasses off, folding them neatly and placing them in his pocket. "How fares the café on this fine day?"

"Very lacking in clientele but otherwise quite fine, your royal mafia-ness," Axel replied solemnly. Cloud elbowed his co-worker in the ribs less-than-discreetly for his lack of tact.

The customer laughed (and even his laugh seemed… _cool_… somehow), expertly flicking his awesome hair over his shoulder with pomp and grandeur. Cloud raised an eyebrow at how impressively pretentious that one action seemed and was honestly astonished as to why glitter and sparkles and radioactively glowing flower petals hadn't randomly materialised and fluttered explosively about the man's head when he did that.

"Just call me Marly, or Lord Marluxia, but I'm perfectly fine with Marly," Pinky was saying as Cloud busily eyeballed his outrageous hair. "I'm here to order a triple shot espresso. And also," he leaned forward and said quietly, as though not wanting anyone to eavesdrop sneakily, "is Leon around by any chance?"

Axel looked startled. "Er, no. Not at the moment. Why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to talk to him about… well, my step-daughter, whom he is currently dating."

"Whoa. So… Rin—Rhianna—Rinini… eh, that Rinyaya girl is your_ step-kid_?" Axel asked, proving (once again) his inability of simple name recall. Still, the redhead was surprised that this dude was personally looking for his boss because Leon was dating his little girl. Well, the man didn't look like he wanted to destroy Leon… which was a good sign.

Cloud cleared his throat loudly. "I'm gonna go make his drink," he said darkly, brushing past Axel. "Charge him an extra twenty bucks," he whispered into the redhead's ears before disappearing through the kitchen door in a cloud (ha ha) of ice and hoarfrost.

Marluxia was still speaking, as though Cloud never interrupted. "It's Rinoa, actually. But that's okay, we always call her Rin." He glanced around curiously, as though checking the place for bombs or something. "So, your boss isn't in? Why not?"

Axel waved a hand in the air casually. "Oh, he doesn't come around till later cuz he lives a fair distance away. So he leaves his minions like me and Strifey to open up the bar and take charge until he gets down here."

"I see," the man sighed dramatically. "Well, when he comes in, please tell him to get in touch with me. It is imperative that I speak to him."

"Speak to him? About the relationship he has with Rinona—er, Rin?"

"Yes."

"If you don't mind me asking… _why_?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong! It's not about Leonhart. I think he's a great guy and I have no qualms with my step-child going out with a responsible young man like him. The problem is the _girl_. Rinoa's very—to put it kindly—_indecisive_ when it comes to men…"

"Ah… She's one of those fickle ladies, you mean."

"In a way."

"Right, right. I get it. Sorta."

"So you understand that I _must_ talk to the boy, at least for the sake of cautioning him. I really don't want my little girl breaking his heart. Sturdy men like Leon will probably kill himself if something goes wrong in the relationship."

Axel was pretty surprised that this Marloolee Lord guy would actually go behind his own kid's back to go talk to the boyfriend of said kid. In fact, this was the first time he'd ever heard of such a bizarre thing before. "Alrighty then. I'll pass him the message. No worries."

"You have my thanks," Marluxia nodded and glanced around furtively once more, which made Axel believe that maybe this guy really _was_ some sort of secret agent. "Now, how much do I owe you for the espresso?" the man asked, whipping out his wallet.

"Eight ninety-nine," Cloud's voice cut in coldly as he barged past Axel and unceremoniously dumped Marluxia's coffee in front of him on the counter.

The blond sure as hell didn't sound like he was joking, but Marluxia laughed anyways (which made Cloud's glare increase tenfold).

"The menu says four ten," he said with a sly twinkle in his eyes. "But oh well, whatever." Marly handed Axel a fifty. "It doesn't matter. Keep the change." He flashed them both a charming smile. "Have a pleasant day, gentlemen. And remember to give Leon my message."

And he took his drink and walked out with a careless wave.

"Son of a frisbee! That guy is fucking _loaded_," Axel exclaimed once the man was out of earshot. He waved the fifty dollar bill in front of Cloud's face. "Leon's dating a millionaire's daughter! This is fucking awesome!"

Cloud felt like ripping Axel's voice box out of his throat.

We shall now take some time to formulate reasons as to why our poor blue-eyed blond is acting like a sullen, murderous bitch this morning.

Número uno: Cloud wasn't, in fact, a millionaire. Nowhere remotely close. And now, he found himself becoming increasingly _jealous_ (whatthefuck_no_!) of this Rinoa Heartilly woman who came from a far more superior class in the societal hierarchy ladder than he. Which sucked big time. And why the hell was he jealous in the first place? Oh, right. Rinoa was dating That Aristocratic, Arrogant, Revolting _Prat. _

Número dos: Cloud was always a sullen, murderous bitch anyway.

Número tres: Axel was an asshole.

Cloud really wanted to believe that it was the third option. But for some reason, he had a sickly feeling that it was the first (and a little of the second).

Goddammit.

Ten minutes later…

"Man, you're booooring. Can we maybe have a decent conversation?" Axel whined.

"I listen to shit on the radio," Cloud replied immediately, mind focused on pointlessly rearranging cookie jars (you know, those little jars with various cookies in them on display for customers to observe and scrutinise).

The redhead blinked. "What?"

"Well, you keep telling me to stop listening to crap music on the radio," Cloud said, shrugging nonchalantly.

Axel realised that Cloud's radio station was still blaring music in the background.

"Pfft. When I said 'a decent conversation', I meant, 'don't start stating the obvious', you douche bag."

Cloud rolled his eyes and popped a cookie into his mouth. One of those triple chocolate fudge ones with an extra dousing of chocolate chips.

"Oy, stop eating the cookies. Leon will—"

"— murder you when I tell him you were giving out free mochas the other day."

"You wouldn't!"

"Yeah? Try me, Onér."

Axel sighed in defeat. "Okay." The redhead tapped his heels together in semi-bored fashion, thought for a moment, then turned to Cloud once more. "I think Roxas is fucking hot and I really wanna have sex with him."

Cloud's cookie went down his windpipe. He ended up choking and hacking out crumbs and chocolate chips for the next few seconds. The rest of the thing went straight to his lungs.

"This is what you call a _decent _conversation?" the blond coughed weakly.

"Uh, yes?"

"Roxas is like, _ten_."

"He is _not_!"

"He may as well be!"

"Hey—!"

"Change the damn topic already! Otherwise, shut the fuck up about how you want to sleep with little children."

"Spoilsport," Axel muttered. "Okay, fine. But for the record, he _is_ fucking hot, okay? Got it? Good. Now… I have a question. A purely hypothetical one of course. If you had a kid, what would you name it?"

"I thought you wanted a fucking _decent conversation_?! What is _with_ you?!"

"_Dude_, just answer the damn question!"

Cloud huffed.

"Box."

Axel stopped short. "The hell? _Box? _You serious?"

"Yeah."

"… Is that a girl's name or a guy's name? Because it sure as hell sounds like something you'd name a pet parakeet instead."

"Hell if I care. My first kid'll be _Box_. And that's that."

"You're fucking weird."

About eight minutes later, Leon stepped in quietly, only alerting his two employees of his presence when he barked at Cloud to turn the blaring radio off lest he chucked the stupid thing out the window.

_Who the hell are you to tell me what to do, why to do, why bother. Leech in a mask of virtue. Such waste, to ever think of you again…_

"Cloud, please turn the radio down a little."

Okay, close enough.

Cloud garbled incoherently. It could be because he really liked the song that was playing at the moment and didn't want to turn it down at all, or it could be because Leon's appearance sparked some kind of fuse within him.

_Argh!_ _What are you _doing_ to me, Leonhart? _

The question echoed desolately in his mind and there was no apparent response.

"Don't make me repeat myself," Leon droned, eyes boring a hole into Cloud's face.

The blond winced and trudged over to the radio and turned the thing off altogether.

Leon nodded approvingly. "Better." He looked over at Axel. "It's gonna be a full house tonight."

"Full house? Oh, you mean Dem and Roxy and Sorry are comin' in later?"

Leon nodded. "Yeah… and it's 'Sora', by the way."

Axel seemed to have ignored the last bit of Leon's sentence. "Shweeeeet, this is gonna be so _aaawesome_."

Cloud scowled at Axel. "For you, maybe."

"Hey, with the—one, two, five—_six _of us, we'll have so much less work to do!" the redhead crowed rather triumphantly. Miraculously, he had a rapid-fire mental ability to count to numbers that went beyond the five fingers of one hand.

"Don't give me that crap. You just want to grope Roxas."

Axel smiled devilishly. "Naw, what makes you say that?"

"That creepy paedophilic grin of yours, maybe?"

"Oh, the kid likes it. I can soooo tell."

"Likes _what_? The fact that you want to molest him? Or your stupid face?"

"Both."

Cloud wanted to bash his head into a wall. Actually, no, he just wanted to bash Axel's head into a wall. Yeah. Número tres. All the way.

* * *

When Demyx stepped into the bar at some time past three in the afternoon, he greeted everyone with a giant 1000-megawatt smile.

"Guess what, guys! Oh man, you'd _never_ guess!" he exclaimed excitedly once he got two feet past the front door. "I got myself a new piercing! On my freakin' tongue!" And he stuck his tongue out as far as it would go.

"Whoa. No kidding!" Axel looked amazed as he eyed the metallic stud that glinted in the light. "Did it hurt?"

"Nah. Well, kinda. But only for awhile. Then it just felt all numb and weird for a few hours. But _oh my freaking god_, it was great!"

Cloud wondered if Demyx liked pain. Pleasure via self-mutilation or something. Maybe he was one of those obsessive compulsive piercing go-getters. Maybe he had chronic congenital analgesia. By the looks of the retard's ears Cloud had no doubts. I mean, come on! There had got to be at least ten studs and rings on each ear. It made Cloud squirm uncomfortably by just _looking_ at them. _What was wrong with this guy? He needs major psychotherapy._

"I am never getting any part of my body pierced," he muttered.

Axel chuckled. "'Course not. You're afraid of pain."

"Shuddup," Cloud snapped vehemently.

"You seriously need to work on those people skills of yours…"

"Yo, Leon! You've got a piercing too, right?" Demyx asked over their bickering. "I remember you telling me about it."

"Oh. Yeah, I do," Leon replied absently, attempting to fix up the cash register drawer that Axel busted five minutes ago.

"Are you for real?" Axel goggled at Leon. "How come you never bothered divulging this little bit of info to me? Haven't we been best buds since the good ol' uni days? You meet _this_ guy—" Axel gestured at Demyx, "—at a silly concert and you tell him _everything_!" The huffed crossly for a moment. Then, curiosity got the better of him. "So… where'd you get it? I don't see it anywhere."

"I don't think—" Leon started, but Demyx cut him off with insane giggling.

"'S cuz it's a nipple piercing, silly."

Leon sighed. "Thanks, Dem. Thanks _a lot_."

Axel never looked at his boss the same way again. And Cloud found it fucking annoying that a goddamn _visual_ of Leon with a pierced nipple remained burned into his mind for the rest of the day. For that matter, the blond couldn't really focus on very much for the rest of the day either, because following Demyx's appearance, people just kept streaming into the bar. Including Sora and Roxas.

"Holy bubblegum wrapper! You didn't tell me we had newbies!" Demyx all but hollered when he spotted the two kids entering through the door with their black Caffeine Fixation uniforms on.

"Dem, you're a freaking noob yourself," Axel pointed out.

Demyx didn't seem to hear the redhead as he half-pranced, half-_bounced_ towards Sora and Roxas.

"High school kids, right? You guys totally look the part," the musician was saying animatedly and he started to introduce himself. "I'm Demyx. Demyx Aeco. But just call me Demyx. Weird name, I know. My parents were drunk when they came up with it. I think they derived it from 'damn it', but I'm not a hundred percent sure. Is this your first day here? Or were you guys here yesterday? Pro'ly yesterday. I_ wasn't_ here yesterday. Aw, bummer. Man, I missed your initiation. Or whatever. Eh, I'm from UT. Like, The University of Twilight. Awesome place. You should go there when you graduate. Also, I'm majoring in music. But I currently have a minor in French. And Spanish. And Chinese. And Italian. And… well, I can speak a few languages pretty well. But French is like, sooo the _coolest_ language _ever_."

The man stopped to gasp for air.

Roxas was staring at Demyx like he was just a liiiittle bit afraid if him. No, seriously. The boy had an expression on his face that clearly read: _GET HIM THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME._

Sora's face however, totally split into a huge grin. He had found his other half. His soulmate.

"Daaaayuuum. That was super-fly, yo!" Sora exclaimed. "You an' me are _sooo_ gonna get along like bros. I can _tell_."

Cloud wanted to stab himself with a spatula. Repeatedly.

* * *

Business picked up after that. By the time the sun started to set, the bar was teeming with people from all walks of life. There was even a guy in a black-white mime costume who walked in and tried to order from them via the fine artistic technique of miming. Which just pissed Cloud off. So the idiot gave up and started speaking in English when the blond behind the counter threatened to smash a cookie jar over his head.

There was some commotion between Axel and Roxas in the kitchen that everyone else tried to overlook (read: ignore). The redhead had been sticking to the blond like glue (of the _super_ variety). Epoxy resin. Bonding agent. High-quality adhesive. You get the picture.

Roxas was getting slightly annoyed. Just slightly. Well, okay, he was starting to get a tad sadistic.

"Hey, man, liste—" the boy started, but the redhead didn't even let him finish.

"It's Axeeel. A-X-E—"

"_Axel_," the blond grated edgily. "I know you're supposed to be supervising me and everything, but could you _please_ give me some space to breathe here? I don't want to 'accidentally' drop this knife on your foot and 'unintentionally' sever your toes off."

"But babe, you've got me lovestoned!"

"I. Am. Going. To. Fucking. _Stab._ You. THROUGH THE HEART."

"Ouch." Axel scooted a little distance away with a grimace. Roxas looked serious with the way he was wielding that sharp blade. "Okay," Axel muttered lowly under his breath, retreating from the love of his life (the love of his life being someone who did not, in fact, love him). "Okay, Roxy. So, you wanna play hard-to-get, huh? Well, I bet I can get you to fall in truly, madly, _deeply_ in lust with me by next week. Heh."

The redhead laughed rather conspiratorially for a few moments just before Sora ploughed right into him with a jug full of water by accident.

"Hey! Watch it, Sour!"

* * *

At around 7:00PM, a pretty, dark-haired girl in an elegant blue dress and black platform boots walked in through the glass doors. She cheerfully ordered a vanilla milkshake and then started looking for her boyfriend. That was when Leon emerged from the back and came out to greet her.

"Hey, Rin. You didn't tell me you were dropping by." He seemed genuinely surprised, and he was smiling.

The smile looked very strange on his face. Of course, people weren't used to him smiling. It was somewhat of a privilege to see him smile. It also gave people nightmares.

"Oh, I just wanted to see you so badly!" his girlfriend twittered. "And I haven't actually been to your little hidey hole and met your friends yet!"

And so, that evening, everyone got themselves acquainted with Leon's girlfriend (who seemed to have migrated from the front of the bar to the back). It was pretty cool.

"So… you actually _do_ have a real girlfriend!" Demyx exclaimed to Leon. "Awesome possum!"

"Ahah!" Axel piped up smartly. "You must be… uhhh… hmm…" There was quite a bit of thinking going on in his head, for he did not want to butcher the girl's name. He gave up on it quickly. "Who are you again?"

"Rinoa Heartilly, of course! Pleased to meet cha! Squall's told me all about you guys!" Rinoa beamed.

"Waitaminute. You call him _Squall_!?" the redhead blurted.

"Umm, yeah." The girl tilted her head inquiringly. "Why? What's the problem? I think Squall's a great name!"

Axel turned to Leon incredulously. "You let her call you Squall?"

"Yes."

"Huh. Something tells me this is some sort of restricted inter-secret-society thing. Only people from Leon's super-secret cult are allowed to call him by his real name."

Rinoa laughed. "That could very well be true. Anyways, yes, Squally-poo's told me a lot about you. Axel Onér, right? The tall guy with the red hair."

"Yeee-up. At your service, my lady," Axel bowed grandly and winked.

Rinoa turned to Cloud. "And you must be Cloud… Strife?"

Cloud shrugged. "Yeah."

"And the one with the mohawk must be Demyx."

Demyx flashed Rinoa a thumbs up.

Finally, she looked at Sora and Roxas. "Now, you two must be the new kids on the block! I don't think I know your names yet."

Sora waved. "I'm Sora Vaïve!"

"So-_raaa_. Oh, what an adorable name!" Rinoa reached forward to ruffle the brunet's hair, causing him to giggle a little. And then she straightened and looked over at Roxas, leaning forwards and peering into his face. "And who's this other little cutie?"

"Roxas Montana," the young blond replied evenly, hoping against hope that she wasn't going to try to ruin his painstakingly-styled hair.

She didn't. Instead, she reached out and shook his hand formally.

"Well Roxas! You look like the intelligent, serious, no-nonsense sort of person. It's no wonder Leon said you've made a good first impression on day one!"

Roxas smiled slightly at the compliment. Rinoa was a really likeable girl. Leon was lucky.

* * *

Whilst Rinoa and Leon sat somewhere at one of the tables in one of the more secluded corners of the bar, chatting away (effectively making Cloud want to yank them apart and wring The Evil Girl's neck) Sora was put on serving duty, because he was just so clumsy in the kitchen that he technically didn't belong back there. His current job entailed getting drinks from the counter and delivering them to the right table.

"Yo, Sora!" Demyx called from the counter. "Small iced latte for table seven!"

Sora grabbed the latte from Demyx's outstretched fingers and brought it over to the table with the lopsided '7' placard hanging from its receptacle. When he placed the drink in front of the pudgy little man who ordered it, the man stared at the cup for five seconds, looked at Sora, stood up, drawing himself to full height (which wasn't very high, actually), and screamed at the poor boy.

"I SAID I WANTED A LARGE LATTE, NOT A FRIGGIN' TINY-ASS SHIT CUP!"

Sora very nearly pissed his pants.

For a guy who looked so damn round and stout, he had a big Sergeant Major voice. Spittle flew from his huge mouth and the brunet had to move back a few steps to avoid the globules of saliva. Oh yeah, and there was no doubt that the dude looked positively livid. Sora was suddenly apprehensive. _Oh noes, he's going to kill me! Quick! Try to reason with him!_

"But – but…!" he stuttered uselessly, mind drawing a complete blank, all composure leaving him in an instant.

"I'M NOT DRINKING THIS. GET ME MY LARGE ORDER!" The Dumpy Angry Man yelled, looking ready to hurl the plastic cup of latte at Sora. Either that or he was very close to dropping to the ground and having an epileptic seizure. It almost seemed to be the latter, judging by the disturbing rate at which his whole face was turning a deep shade of purple.

Sora suddenly wanted to burst into tears. And no, it wasn't because he was worried that the pissed off customer might die from manic convulsions or a heart attack. Everyone around them was _staring_. It was embarrassing as hell.

And then, much to Sora's wonder, someone stepped in and intervened.

This someone had a calm, listen-to-whatever-the-fuck-I-say voice. And also, he had very nice silver hair. Like, Herbal Essences Shampoo Ad kind of hair.

"Sir, I think it would be in your best interest right now to pipe it down for the sake of the other customers in this café."

The man rounded on the newcomer, eyes narrowing. But then he took in the newcomer's noticeable build and height. "Oh yeah?" he barked a little falteringly.

His new adversary crossed his well-muscled arms menacingly with a threatening glare. "Oh _yeah_. And I _insist_ that you step away from him," he nodded towards Sora before looking back at the furious customer, "before you do something stupid that you might live to regret."

"Who are _you _to tell me that?"

The silver-haired individual cracked his knuckles loudly. And that action alone pretty much spoke for itself. It exuded the kindly proposition of '_mess with me and you will surely die'._

The man backed off immediately. He shot Sora a dirty look and finally made a hasty exit out of the bar, grabbing the small latte and taking it with him as he went.

Everyone else around them, disappointed that there had been no climatic physical combat involved in the incident, went back to their normal chitter chatter.

Sora, pretty glad that he hadn't been assaulted, heaved a sigh of relief. "Thanks for that," he said to his saviour quietly, face tinged pink with humiliation and embarrassment.

"Hey, no worries. That spineless jackass totally had it coming."

The brunet looked up and smiled. And that was when he finally took in the guy's face.

He looked _gorgeous_. Really, if you were to look in fashion magazines and stuff, you would not find this dude in them because he would probably be on the damn front cover. He seemed almost feminine, what with the long flowy hair. But his well-toned body suggested otherwise. His sea green eyes were framed with long dark lashes, and he had a really attractive-looking face and nice cupid-bow lips. Oh yeah, and did I mention his well-toned body? Because it was smokin'.

"So, you're one of the new guys?"

Sora mentally shook himself. _Concentrate, concentrate on conversation. Not pretty face._ "Y-yeah. How'd you know?"

"Oh, I have my sources," the very pretty dude replied airily with a dismissive wave of his hand, then smiled slightly. "I'm Riku by the way."

"M'Sora," Sora mumbled, head bowed. For some unknown reason, he found himself blushing slightly.

"You in high school, Sora?"

Sora nodded, unable to formulate proper words.

"That's cute."

_Cute?_ _Really?_ "Um, um… what about you?"

"Second year at UT."

"Oh. That's… very cool."

Riku grinned. "Well, not really. It's real tough." He sighed dramatically. "Med school is _so_ not what I signed up for. Anyways, I would really love to stay and chat, but you've got work to do and I've spotted your boss. Gotta go talk to him." He clapped Sora on the shoulder in a friendly manner. "I'll see ya around. Hopefully."

And with that, Riku walked off in the direction of Leon (who was _still_ with Rinoa and had shown no signs of actually registering the fact that a customer had just yelled and stormed out of the bar).

Sora stared after him almost forlornly and was left to wonder why Riku had such awesome hair and such a nice butt.

Yeah, he had a hella nice butt…

"HELLOOOO? SORA, TABLE FIVE, TEN, THIRTEEN AND TWO!"

* * *

Quite soon, it was fifteen minutes to closing time. Leon announced to his employees that he was going to take Rinoa home via his chariot of fire (i.e. his Volvo). Yes, Rinoa had stayed by her boyfriend's side till 8:45PM and had got along pretty well with the others (apart from Cloud, for reasons that the blond cared not to disclose).

"Guys, I'm gonna drive Rinoa home, alright? Ax, could you close up for the night?"

* * *

At 9:00PM, when all the customers had more or less trickled out of The Fix, the five remaining bar staff started to pack up. Sora, Demyx, Axel, Roxas and Cloud were all in the kitchen, cleaning out the dishes and mugs and stuff.

"I think Rinoa's really nice," Roxas was saying rather off-handedly as he emptied the remaining contents of a jug of full-cream milk into the sink and doused it in water. "I can see why Leon's in love with her."

Nobody saw it coming. He moved like lightning, or something equally fast (too fast for the naked eye—Sonic the Hedgehog style). Cloud's fist connected loudly with the left side of Roxas' face sending the unfortunate boy stumbling a good few steps backwards.

Demyx shrieked. Sora gasped and tried to get to Roxas before Cloud decided to land another punch on his friend (the man seemed to be seriously contemplating it by the way he was about to raise his fist of doom once more). But Axel, valiant knight in shining armour and all, got there first.

"Hey, hey, _hey_!" Axel yelled, shoving Cloud away from Roxas (who was now leaning heavily against the kitchen sink, staring wide-eyed at his assailant with a hand to his sore cheek) in a rather vehement fashion. "_God_. What in the _hell_ is your problem, Strife?" the redhead grounded out, suddenly furious, which was pretty damn unusual. "Don't fucking take it out on _Roxas_. You got a problem, you deal with _me_."

After a few moments of heavy breathing, Cloud seemed to have _finally_ realised his mistake and lowered his fist, an expression of complete regret blossoming across his face.

"Fuck," he muttered. "Fuckfuck_fuck_."

And he shook his head and walked out through the back door, slamming it spitefully as he went.

Silence reigned in the kitchen for a moment until Demyx let loose a low whistle.

Axel turned to Roxas.

"You okay?"

"Just _peachy_," Roxas replied, flinching a little when the redhead moved closer and tried to take his hand off his swollen cheek to inspect it. "_Ow_, hey! Ax, don't touch it!"

Sora winced at the redness on his friend's face as soon as Roxas' hand was removed.

"Jeez, you want some ice for that? I'll go get you some, bro."

"Wow. Why did Cloud do that?" Demyx was questioning aloud as Sora raced towards the mini-freezer and started to dig through the drawers for ice cubes.

"Hell if I know," Axel muttered, straightening. "Goddammit. I'm gonna go talk to him, and maybe find out what the hell's gotten into him. He's been acting like a bitchy little bitch all day." He walked towards the door that Cloud had left through, turning the handle and jerking it open. "You guys lock up in front."

* * *

The redhead found Cloud leaning against a flickering lamppost along the back alley just a few paces away. The blond looked wretched and depressed, as though someone had just told him that the world was going to end in five minutes and that he was still very much a virgin.

Axel approached the man vigilantly.

"Hey."

Cloud looked up wearily and spotted his co-worker in the darkness. "Hey," he mumbled back, looking away pointedly.

"Why'd you hit Roxas?"

"…" Cloud replied. Okay, so it wasn't a legitimate reply. But still.

"_Cloud_."

"He was talking about _her_," the blond spat out after a long pause.

Axel raised an eyebrow. Not the answer he was expecting. "Her?" he questioned.

"_Ri-no-a_," Cloud enunciated sardonically.

"What? Leon's girl?"

"How many other Rinoa's do you _know_?" Cloud snarled.

Axel took a moment to think this revelation through. _Was Rinoa the reason why Cloud had been acting like a ticking time bomb all day?_ And then it hit him (after awhile) like a freshly baked cream-filled cake to the face.

"Holy _hole in the ground!_ No waaaay. You're _jealous of her_?! You're… you're falling for him? You… and _Leon_?"

Cloud opened his mouth to rebuke the redhead for coming up with such a ridiculous thing, then thought better of it, hung his head in disgrace and nodded semi-despairingly.

Axel tilted his head quizzically. "Did you hit your head on something? Something extremely hard and akin to a concrete wall for that matter? It was of my understanding that you hated the bossman's guts as much as you hated his… his… face." The redhead concluded lamely.

"I don't know," Cloud groused miserably, wringing his hands. "Maybe."

There was a slight pause, after which it was totally ruined when Axel started shrieking with uncontrollable laughter. "HAHAHAHA. OH MY _GOD_. WOOT! Gotta hand it to you, this is freaking _priceless_! Man, I thought I'd _never_ see the day! HAHAHAHEE! This is un-fucking-_believable_."

The blond made a disgruntled-like noise and shot Axel a withering death glare. "Take your damn happy face and go shoot it to hell with a semi-automatic, asshole," he hissed.

Axel tried to calm himself down (which took maybe a minute or two… maybe even three), and then, phenomenally, his expression went back to being grim-and-serious. "Right. No need to get all defensive on my ass… or offensive, for that matter."

Cloud blinked at the man's abrupt change in demeanour, then sighed as though he really didn't care if the world exploded right about now. "You know what? What_ever_." He seemed to have had enough of this disgusting conversation and pushed himself away from the street lamp, starting down the alley. "I'm goin' home."

"Strife?"

"_What?_" Cloud bit out, whirling around. If the redhead was going to crack a joke at him being oh so madly in love with Leon, he was going to scream bloody murder.

"Hit the kid again and this friendship of ours might not last very long."

Cloud stared at Axel for a moment. Then churlishly turned away once more. "It won't happen again," he muttered darkly, heading down the street, kicking an unobtrusive, already semi-abused Coke can to the side of the road as he went.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Oh Cloud, you rotten little emo. Hitting little boys is _so_ not your thing._

_And Axel totally did not forget to tell Leon that Marluxia came to visit. Oh, wait. Oops. _

_Riku/Sora action for the win!_

_Also, this chapter contained shameless references to lyrics from the following songs: __**How Far We've Come**__ by Matchbox Twenty, __**Master Passion Greed**__ by Nightwish, __**Lovestoned**__ by Justin Timberlake._

_Review? :)_


	8. Chapter 8: WHIPPED CREAM

_**Author's Note:**__ About time, huh? I would have posted this chapter a lot earlier (like, before AkuRoku Day), but for the past few weeks, I've been going through pretty shitty life-crisis moments so I had to put this baby on hold. Plus, I've been whittling away at one-shots instead. Please forgive my tardiness. _

_Due to the fact that I couldn't reply to every single review because there were so many and I was just too busy, I'll do what I always do and acknowledge everyone here. :) So, many thanks to the following__**: xX-Citrus-Xx, Yunie Tatlin, Aizawa Mika, Axurel, RecklessxDreamer, UkeGlomper, unpredictabilities, simple charm, Jumesyn, MizzMoris, forgotten unmei, high off of strawberry pocky12, smilenlaugh4vr, Thatz, sad kuroneko, sorceress115, NarutoXxXLisa, 13loves8loves9loves6, AznAnimeChick, Christy-Sama, Geesesaymoo, d00mPuppet, alicesyndrome, Jupiter13, Aindel S. Druida, XyuOfTheBloodRedMoon, cutiekitten, xWhisperWolfx, XxlaLunaxX, Undying lover, Asira Rimaka, Tysonkaiexperiment, evenstar28, Karo, SporkFilledDeath345, sailormulti01, LadeeBliss **__and__** flower-lighten. **__You people are great! _

_I'll try to reply to all of your reviews next time around._

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Whipped Cream**

**Whipped:** _(adj.) _A word describing something that has been beaten into a froth. Does not imply that someone has been beaten into submission.  
**Cream: **_(noun) _The fatty component of milk which can be found on the surface when allowed to stand, unless homogenized.  
**Whipped Cream:** _(noun) _Zexion's worst enemy that he deems evil enough to be blown up by forty (approx. figure) rocket launchers.

"_**My Best Friend Has Problems. Please Just Ignore Him."**_

At the underdeveloped age of ten, Demyx Aeco had been pretty much known for his fear of performing in front of an audience. Yes, I could not be more serious about this fine and delicate matter. There were times when the timid, apprehensive little boy with the crew-cut (do _not_ question the crew-cut) would faint on the spot or disappear in a cloud of dust when he'd been forced to perform onstage. I mean, hell, there was this one year during his elementary school's annual Christmas concert whereby he played the _narrator_ of the story, which didn't even require him to be _on_ the damn stage. But even behind the heavy, velvet, tangible shield of curtains, he had cold feet. Two minutes of reading from the script and he just stuttered to a stop, ceased recounting the tale of old Scrooge and ran off bawling his eyes out. Twenty odd minutes later, they found him locked in the boy's bathroom mindlessly kicking one of the stall's PVC walls.

It was mind-blowingly astounding.

To help her only child get over his stage fright, Demyx's dear mother had bought him an expensive musical instrument. She said: "Go forth, my dear child, and learn to play this wonderful contraption well. When you have learnt to master it, you shall show the world just how great you are. And you will be grand and famous. The world will applaud you and watch in awe as you make beautiful music."

Well. Actually, if you want to get technical, what she _really_ said was this: "Demyx, I paid an arm and a leg for this damned Fender. You better get your act together, learn to play it in front of an audience _soon, _preferably by _next week_, and be world-famous before the day comes when I cease to exist, you hear me?"

And learn to play the guitar he did. Effortlessly.

The kid was a true-blue natural and he became _un_naturally skilled at playing the legendary instrument.

Ten years on, Demyx had graduated from high school and enrolled himself in the University of Twilight. There, he started his own band and ditched his initial choice of majoring in marine biology for a major in music. Now, twenty-one and in his second year at UT, he (miraculously) no longer found himself having heart palpitation-inducing problems performing in front of a crowd. In fact, he now _adored_ large audiences as much as any other publicity-starved novice band member would. And just a word of warning: his die-hard fans would totally maul you with crowbars, mic stands, blades with guns attached to them, combat knives, decks of playing cards, nunchucks and other assorted video game-related weapons if you ever so much as _attempted_ to boo or jeer at him during a gig.

Okay, enough background information. The main point of _that_ heart-wrenching story? Demyx, world-class punk rock band front guitarist, started off as a shy kid… and ended up being a complete and utter people-loving yobbo. Miracle of miracles.

Now, back to this story.

"G'mornin', Cloud!" said people-loving yobbo called out as soon as the zombified Strife had entered the bar.

"M'rning," Cloud mumbled, still in his catatonic, sleep-induced state at this early hour. He felt so dead and unholy and vampire-like that direct sunlight seemed to have some kind of a burning effect on his skin and retinas. He stifled a broken yawn, scratched at his semi-flattened porcupine hair (trust me when I say his usually-immaculate spiky mop looked pretty deceased today) and rubbed at his sandpaper-ish eyes.

Jesus. Two nights in a row with minimal sleep! He couldn't go on like this! _Crappy crapola_. Maybe he needed sleeping pills.

Or _alcohol_.

That worked relatively well too…

Cloud's eye twitched. Maybe he should take them both. He made a mental note to stop by the pharmacy and the liquor store later on. Screw brain damage, memory loss and/or possible death. Alcohol plus sleeping pills would equal inevitable tomblike coma. And damn, he needed to be knocked out _real good_ tonight. For heaven's fucking _sake_, he wasn't a goddamn teenage schoolboy with intense, extreme, severe, out-of-control, raging _hormones from hell_! Just who the _frack _on this blue-green planet of ozone-depleting carbon monoxide had unprecedented _wet dreams_ about – about – about… ABOUT THEIR BOSS?!

… Oh. Wait, don't answer that.

It was a bright and beautiful Saturday morning. Way too bright and way too beautiful for semi-nocturnal humanoid creatures who abhorred the fact that they had to clock in on weekends. An example of this rare species would be a man who went by the name of Strife (first name: Cloud, middle name: The Pessimistic Bastard). Said humanoid was grateful that _at least_ it was _Demyx de Punk_ who was scheduled to open up this morning. Cloud was only there to supervise the new kid, since Axel and Squ—_Le—…stupidhead_ would only arrive later. 'Cept the Strife came in late of course, and the bar had already been open for about an hour now and Demyx had already sent like, seven customers on their way with steaming paper cups of caffeine-laden beverages.

The mohawk'd musician was always an early-riser. And today, being _Hooray! No Classes! Let Us College Kids All Rejoice And Vandalize Stuff! _Day, Demyx was evidently more effervescent than normal, which didn't exactly bode well for his other blond colleague (who was now shuffling like an old man with various disabilities towards the counter).

"You alright there, dude?" Demyx asked in a voice that sounded somewhat concerned. Or maybe he was just faking it. Whatever.

It was then that Cloud realised that the musician had a nervous look on his face and seemed to be keeping a fair distance away from his personal space. Now, if it wasn't already obvious, no one really gave a shit about Cloud's personal space to begin with, so he found it extremely odd for a few moments. And the events of last night came barrelling back to Cloud, hitting the blond painfully in the stomach, causing him to exhale almost despairingly.

Yes. Damn. Fuck.

He had punched Roxas.

… He had…

Punched_ (insert random number of exclamation marks here!!)_…

R-O-X-A-S.

He had punched the only person out of the whole lot of them that he thought he'd never punch. I mean, come on! Sora (annoying douche)? Demyx (even more annoying douche)!?AXEL (professional fucktard)!? He just _had_ to hit Roxas of all people, just because the kid was talking about Rinoa. _Rinoa!_ Like, what the fuck, dude? RINOA! That Leon-humping woman with the big bucks.

It appalled Cloud to no end. There was no sugar-coating it in rainbow colours and bright sparkles. This mere incident totally messed with his mind.

Oh, and Demyx was still waiting for an answer.

Cloud sighed loosely. It was one of those _'goddammit, I give the hell up'_ sighs.

"Look, Demyx… About last night… I didn't mean to hurt Roxas. I was – I was just…" Another miserable sigh. "… Well, I was having a really, really bad—"

"Say no more, Cloudy Skies," Demyx smiled consolably. "Chill. I _know_ why you did it. I'm just askin' if you're feeling a little better now, that's all."

"You know why I did it?" Cloud was horror-struck and very much astounded. _No way!_ His eyes narrowed suddenly. "Has Axel been talking to you?" he growled suspiciously, and then mentally berated himself for letting Axel know exactly _why_ he had been in a crappy mood yesterday. "Dammit! I _knew_ I shouldn't have told him _a goddamn thing _about my thing for Leon!"

"Whoa, whoa, back it up, man!" Demyx looked surprised. "You have a _thing_ for Leon?"

If it were possible, Cloud looked _even more_ mortified than before. Oh no. What had he done?!

"I thought you said you _knew_!" he more or less shouted at Demyx in an immensely shrilly and high-pitched voice (so shrilly and high-pitched that it could have shattered glass windows, maybe even Perspex or bullet-proof windows).

"PSYCHE!" Demyx counter-yelled, then started laughing like that skinny-ass rotten kid who stole your wallet last Sunday, emptied it and threw it into the garbage chute, then used all your stolen cash to purchase several crime/mystery novels and twelve Pokemon Trading Card decks. "HAHAHA! Just kidding, man! I _totally_ knew you had a thing for Leon. I've known it for like, aaaages! Axel told me nothing! I figured it out myself awhile ago. And from my reckoning, you're just breaking out of denial right around… _now_."

Suspended silence.

Cloud found himself letting loose a deep sigh of relief. But three milliseconds later, he realised that this revelation wasn't actually meant to make him feel any fucking better.

"Dem…" he muttered slowly, ever-so-carefully. Possibly his first time calling the kid by his nickname, ever. "Are you gonna tell anyone about this?"

And Cloud felt like one of those embarrassed high school Grade Ten girls right now. Y'know, one of those giggly fifteen-year-old chicks who've 'accidentally' let a friend know just _whom_ it was she had this huge crush on and consequently makes said friend swear to never ever ever _eveeeeer_ tell anyone about this insider-trading knowledge? Yeah, uh-huh, Cloud felt very fifteen-year-old-ish right now. And very girly.

"Hey, no worries!" Demyx replied smoothly as though he were a giant, talking silkworm. "I'm not gonna bust you! You have my word. What kinda friend would I be if I did? … We _are_ friends, aren't we? Bosom buddies? Brothers in arms? Comrades on the battlefield? Colleagues in a hellhole? I'll be your super-slick Secret Keeper, like in Harry Potter. Y'know, the Secret Keeper person dude? Who keeps _secrets_?"

Cloud frowned, indicating that he did not, in fact, know what the hell a Secret Keeper was. Neither did he know of this Hairy Plotter thing.

"And don't you worry about Axel either," Demyx went on, a serene smile fixed on his face as though completely oblivious to Cloud's current mid-life crisis pertaining to his confusion in gender preference. "I can tell you two are pretty close pals, even though it doesn't seem like it to you. He'd never do something as stupid as blackmail you or betray your trust. I mean, _duh_, he may not seem like someone you'd rely upon or have confidence in, but take my word for it; the dude's clearly totally loyal when it comes to friends." Demyx's expression faltered a little, and he couldn't help but add: "Although if he develops a deeper affection for Roxas, you'd better not try your I-hit-little-kids-because-I'm-an-angry-buffalo-queen stunt again."

Cloud blinked several times. An angry _what _now?

He decided not to question Demyx's questionable thinking process and shook his head instead. "… I hope you're right, because if that redheaded sonuva bitch so much as blabs a word to Leon, I _will_ kill him eat his heart and internal organs for breakfast."

Demyx shot Cloud a reassuring grin. "Relax, buddy. I'm _always_ right!" He gave the older blond a thumbs-up. And then, his smile faded slightly and he looked a little sadly at Cloud. "Eh, sorry about Leon and his girl, yo," he said, voice suddenly unexpectedly low. "Guess you'd have to wait a little and hope they break up along the way somehow. Even then, I dunno if you'll stand a chance. The boss dude seems pretty straight."

Something in Demyx's voice caused Cloud to stir from his fog of depression. He looked closely at the guitarist's face (ignoring the piercings that framed it) and recalled that Demyx had something like a crush on one of those guys from UT who walked in the other day. Cloud knew he'd been pretty mocking and condescending about it. He felt like taking his words back now. Y'know, the kid didn't seem like such a bad guy after all.

"You're not straight, are you?" Cloud asked. A little blunt, but hey, a little straight-talking never hurt anybody.

Demyx looked startled at the question, then his cheeks turned a faint shade of pink and he laughed a little bashfully. "Well, you know, I'm attracted to girls, sure. But… there's just this _one_ guy…" he sighed wistfully. "There's just somethin' about him that pulls me in, y'know? Think it's his eyes, cuz you can't really see 'em, but when you do, they make you melt… or something. I dunno."

"Is he the one from UT?"

"Yeah. That's right. Whenever I catch a glimpse of him in a crowd or something, my heart speeds up so damn fast and painfully and I get butterflies in my gut and I always hope to God he's lookin' at me, but not really, because then I'd be all nervous and stuff if he does and I'd probably end up looking like some spastic idiot in front of him. It's so annoying!"

Demyx had to stop with his story and shut up just then because he heard the front door swing open.

Cloud glanced over Demyx's shoulder and towards the doorway, taking in the sight of the newcomers. There were two of them. And they were coming this way. Oh. _Ohhh_… Well, this was turning out to be an interesting day.

"Huh," Cloud muttered. "Speak of the devil."

Demyx's head whipped around so fast it cricked audibly. He immediately tensed on the spot when he realised Cloud was totally right. _OHMYGOD. It's him!_ a corner of his mind squealed in soprano and nearly exploded. It told him to _Run! Run the fuck away! _

Yep. It was the slate-haired emo fashionista and that pretty-looking silver-haired kid (whom we've finally learnt in the last chapter that he went by the name of Riku) once again. Of course, Demyx wasn't concentrating on Riku very much. Riku might as well have been non-existent or dying in a corner in some besmirched alley somewhere for all he cared. Demyx was more concerned about the other guy walking in his direction.

The usually-chipper (now oddly flustered) barista tried (with much difficulty) to compose himself in a manner that did not quite scream _Oh my freaking mother of quantum physics and guitar picks! It's the guy that I stalk at university and on the internet (sort of)!_

Oh dear, oh dear. Why were these two even _here _of all the places in Twilight Metropolis? It was eight in the morning on a _weekend_ for crying out loud! Did you wake up at such an ungodly hour just to meet up with a friend and visit a coffee bar for _coffee_?! How ridiculously _impractical_ (not to mention _bizarre_).

Unless…!

Unless one of them had like, _Ulterior Motives™_.

Or something.

When the two customers had reached the counter, Riku (a.k.a. _Goldilock's biggest nemesis for the Most Lustrous Hair Competition_) glanced at Cloud briefly, then at Demyx.

Demyx bit his bottom lip hard and tried to calm himself down enough before asking, "Uh, hello. May I, um, take your order?"

"Ah, yeah, heeey," Riku said, distracted for a few moments. "Er…" He looked around a bit more, like he was searching for something extremely important and/or valuable and/or not exactly there in the first place. "I know this may be a stupid question, but… where's that new kid with the brown hair? Sora?"

His companion snorted.

Cloud arched an eyebrow and pursed his lips like a fish. "Friend of yours?" he asked.

Riku shrugged, his apathetic pokerface expressionless. "In time, maybe."

Demyx tapped a finger against his chin, trying to ignore the fact that his superduperlongtimeboycrush was standing like, two feet away. He could almost smell his shampoo. "_Weeeell_, the new kiddies don't get in till around noon on weekends. Sorry, you're kind of a bit too early. Sora's probably at home in bed right about now, sleeping… I suppose."

"Mmm, yes. See? I told you, Ri," Riku's friend muttered, causing Riku to roll his eyes skyward. "So, _anyway_," the slate-haired individual coughed delicately and looked up straight into the musician's eyes, completely ignoring Cloud as though he wasn't just standing right next to his co-worker. "Dem, we'd like to order some drinks."

The part-time barista's brain didn't exactly manage to process much of that sentence, apart from the fact that _OMGHECALLEDME_DEM_!! QAWSEDRFTGAPPLEPIEZANDSTUFF!_

A good few seconds passed in silence. Deep breaths, deep breaths.

"… I'm sorry, er… what?"

Riku sighed. "Um, drinks. Y'know, like uh, liquids? Preferably with caffeine or something? You put them in little cups."

Cloud more or less shoved his suddenly-rendered-retarded co-worker to one side and exuded a business-like aura. He may be feeling horribly sleepy and fucked in the head right now, but hell, he'd been working at The Fix for more than half a year and he knew how to take the reins from here. No way was he gonna let Demyx screw anything up and embarrass the both of them.

"Sure. Drinks. Cool, cool. Yeah, we serve those here." The proficient blond expertly flipped open the notepad that he usually used to scribble orders down on and grabbed at the pencil on the counter, twirling it in one hand like a pro. "And what would you two like?"

The two customers made their order. The usual. One ice blended mocha (without whipped cream) for the shorty, and one hazelnut macchiato (with whipped cream) for the tall guy. Take away. This time, they weren't staying long. Probably (most likely) because they found out that Sora wasn't here. Cloud wasn't sure what the deal was with that silver-haired guy and Sora. It didn't seem like they knew each other well. They probably didn't. But it seemed that Riku was interested in Sora. How quaint.

Maybe he was gay, Cloud deduced.

… _Nah._

Everyone was straight.

The whole world was straight.

_Leon_ was straight.

DAMMIT.

Money exchanged hands, Cloud cashed it into the register violently, then he gave Demyx the order and proceeded to disappear into the kitchen and out the back, saying he needed to make a break for the little men's room next door due to unforeseen circumstances.

And so, a very startled Demyx was left alone in the bar with the two customers.

Great. Just what the doctor ordered.

Not.

He tried to keep a low-profile, working silently on making the mocha and macchiato with the machine out front. A little hard, what with the object of his infatuation standing by the counter, waiting for his drink to be made… waiting for _him_ to finish making his drink. But he managed. Once done, he presented them to the two.

And then! AND THEN! As he passed said object of infatuation his drink over the counter, the guy started a freaking conversation with him!

"Do you usually work here every day? Or is this just a part-time thing?"

Demyx's heart tried to do backflips. It seemed to be happily slamming itself against his ribcage. He giggled nervously. "Ah, ha, well, just a part-time thing. I come in on weekends and Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays after classes end. Can't afford to work full-time with all the stuff going on at UT and all."

"I see. Makes sense…" Pause. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. How rude of me. We've seen each other around campus a lot, but we've never actually talked or been formally introduced. Well, just about everybody at UT has heard of you, so it's not hard to know your name. But I don't think I'm as famous as you, so…" The guy blew at a strand of blue-purple hair on his face and extended a slender hand (the one not holding his mocha). "I'm Zexion. If you wanted to know."

Demyx nodded and took his hand, trying excruciatingly hard to play the calm-and-collected, semi-famous, people-loving musician. His trump card. "Yeah. I know who you are."

Zexion (for that was indeed his name) looked surprised, if not a little happy about the fact. "You do?"

"Yeah. You're in third year doing a dual in Med-Law, right?"

Zexion blinked (and Demyx realised that eyeliner never looked so damn good on a guy). "How'd you...? Who told you that?""

"Uhhhhh…" Oh shit. Demyx's brain stalled. What was he going to say? _'Oh, you know, I've been stalking you like a freak'?_ "Well..." Shitshitshit. He racked his brains for something that didn't sound too ludicrous. "You know, uh, Lexaeus? Yeah! Lexaeus! He's a friend of yours, right? Yeah, he's a fan of M Thirteen. We had a conversation once and he mentioned you somewhere."

"Oh." Zexion didn't look entirely convinced. He was sure Lexaeus had no interest in Mismatched Thirteen at all.

Demyx decided to change the topic quickly in case Zexion decided to enquire further. "Med-Law… You must be smart. So what do you wanna be when you graduate? A lawyer? Or doctor?"

Zexion shrugged. "Don't know yet."

"I see you as a lawyer," said Demyx in earnest, recalling how he always saw Zexion's pretty face buried in thick books wherever he went. "Really! You look the type! Smart and serious and intelligent and all."

Zexion smiled. "Yeah?"

Demyx beamed. Zexion's smile was gorgeous. "Yeah."

"Alright, alright," Riku cut in briskly. "Zex, c'mon, we gotta go. We'll come back another day and you two can swap pointless stories then."

* * *

A couple of hours after Riku and Zexion had vacated the premises, Axel and Leon came in at the same time. Cloud believed Axel got a lift from the boss, which wasn't unusual. Axel took public transport after all (the redhead liked to think he was doing the world a favour by not being another jackass contributing to the greenhouse effect). Anyways, the two walked into the bar with Axel grinning away and yapping about something related to dead snails and ginger beer bottles.

Cloud was suddenly apprehensive.

Axel and Leon were unusually buddy-buddy this morning. The blond wondered if Axel may have told Leon something about _him_.

"Hey, Dem! Cloud! 'Sup? You two're lookin' swell today!" Axel sang, his green eyes twinkling in such a frightening manner that Cloud wanted to shoot him at point blank range.

Demyx smiled broadly. He was over the moon for some unknown reason. Okay, fine. He was over the moon because his unexpected exchange with Zexion earlier that morning went so much better than he'd anticipated.

Cloud, on the other hand, did _not_ smile broadly. Instead, he shot Axel a Killer Queen Glare (_gunpowder, gelatine, dynamite with a laser beam, guaranteed to blow your mind_).

And the redhead caught sight of Cloud's murderous expression and seemed to have read his mind.

"What?! I didn't tell him _anything_!" Axel defended with a squawk.

"Suuuure," Cloud hissed.

"Like, seriously! I couldn't be more _serious_! I mean, ask Leon himself if you really wanna know so bad!"

Demyx jabbed Cloud in the ribs. "See? What'd I tell ya? He's a loyal friend."

Leon took this moment to frown and interject. "Is there something you people aren't telling me?"

"No!" Demyx quipped hastily. "Nothing at all—"

"_Cloud's pregnant!"_ Axel blurted.

This was meant to be an intelligent diversion.

Demyx blinked whilst Leon's eyebrows flew off his face.

"With joy and elation!" the redhead added quickly.

"Um, yeah!" Demyx looked baffled but played along. He tried to steer the conversation away from revelations of Cloud's predicament. "And the thing is, his hills were alive with the sound of music. But he never knew what song they were playing… Total bummer. But that doesn't mean he's in love with anyone! Nuh-uh! Especially not the girl and/or boy next door! That would be ab_surd_!" Demyx prattled. "Totally bonkers I tell ya—"

"—And lots and lots of BOXES!" Axel concluded lamely with a cheesy smile.

Crickets chirped for a full five seconds. There was even the croak of a frog somewhere in there and the sound of a falling tree.

Cloud stared, dumbfounded. He didn't know whether to sigh in relief or kill Demyx and Axel.

But apparently, the dynamic duo weren't finished yet. Oh no, no, they definitely weren't. Far from it. They were determined to sidetrack the boss as much as humanly possible. And Cloud thought they were going a little too far.

"Demyx! What's your ambition in life?" Axel almost yelled. "Fame? Fortune? Lots of wild _sex_?"

Demyx forced a grin. "I just wanna be happy, you know? Sure, I could do with the fame and fortune and sex bit, but it's not a necessity. I just wanna get by in life, eat fast food, buy a nice house, have a little dog named Wookie Snugglebutt… and maybe get like, married one day."

"Jesus, you've got your life all planned out haven't you? Along with all the blueprints and to-do lists and shit."

Well, the two had obviously successfully managed to divert Leon's attention, because then, Leon muttered, "At least he's got more direction than you, Axel."

The redhead shrugged and spread his arms wide. "Well, I had a dog named Pooey the Win. He died seven years ago when a truck ran over him, but gimme a consolation prize here!"

* * *

At noon, Sora and Roxas walked in. Well, it was pretty hard to mistake them for anyone else for their presence was blatantly announced with Sora's loud "HELLOOOOO, WOOOORLD!"

The first thing everyone noticed was that Roxas had a prominent black-purple bruise on his left cheek as though someone had punched him on that exact spot, hard.

"Roxas, what happened to your face?" Leon asked, brow creased in concern.

Roxas glanced at Cloud stoically and Cloud grimaced. Oh no. He'd been worrying about Leon finding out about his new-found feelings so much that the fact that he'd attacked Roxas slipped his mind. And if Roxas told Leon what he did… ah, crap. Leon would totally fire him. Or _worse_, hate him forever and ever amen.

Roxas broke eye-contact with Cloud and looked back at Leon, shrugging. "Small incident at home," he lied, tone deathly serious. "No big deal."

Cloud was confused for a moment. But then he slowly exhaled the breath he'd been holding in. Jesus. He gave the blond kid an appreciative look. One that clearly read, _thankyouthankyouthankyouforsavingmypatheticass_.

He promised himself that he was going to buy the kid a beer one of these days.

Sora was clearly not happy when Roxas fibbed about Cloud's psychosomatic episode yesterday and pouted a little resentfully. The brunet wasn't ever going to forgive the creep for hurting his friend. If it weren't for Roxas' merciful nature, Sora would have liked to execute a fitting revenge that generally involved a pair of scissors, a plastic rolling pin and a gallon of black hair dye. Maybe even a wad of gum and some chilli peppers for good measure.

Leon wasn't convinced with Roxas' explanation but decided wisely not to say anything more about it.

Less than a minute later, Demyx announced from the kitchen that they were fast running out of milk.

"YO, BOSS! WE'RE TOTALLY RUNNING OUT OF MILK, MAN!"

See? Told you.

Leon frowned, then looked at Axel, who wasn't doing anything in particular (well, he was picking at the lint on his outfit and tying his shoelaces at the same time, but that constituted as doing nothing in particular in Leon's book).

"Ax? Make yourself useful and go get ten cartons of full cream milk from I.K.K.'s."

Axel straightened and stared at Leon. "Gee, _Mister I-Have-A-Pretty-Girlfriend-Now_. Do I look like I have half a dozen pairs of hands to help me carry ten friggin' cartons of milk to you?"

Leon rolled his eyes. "No, Axel. You don't. I wasn't going to let you go alone anyway. Last time you made a trip down there, you lost twenty bucks. Twenty of _my_ bucks."

"I didn't know how much change I was supposed to get back! I handed him fifty in cash! The damn cashier was a cheat!"

Axel abhorred mathematics. The only thing remotely related to mathematics he really understood was: _Sex equals maths_. Add a guy and a girl, subtract the clothes, divide the legs and if lucky, multiply!

"Whatever. I don't want you making the same mistake again," Leon growled, annoyed now. "Take Roxas with you."

* * *

Moments later, Roxas found himself walking towards the convenience store down the street (The _'I Killed Kenny'_ Store) with Axel by his side.

"Hey, Rox? Is your face really okay?" the redhead asked. "I know from experience that Cloud's got a pretty nasty right hook."

It was true. Axel had gotten into fight with Cloud once in high school (Cloud had caught Axel trying to steal his lunch money). Cloud broke Axel's nose. It was a messy affair.

"It's fine," the boy replied. "Hurts like a bitch, but I'll be okay. Don't worry about it." He paused, then lowered his voice to a grudging mutter. "Thanks for yesterday. If it weren't for you, he'd probably have kept on going and I would've had it pretty bad."

Axel ruffled the blond's hair. "No worries, kiddo. Gotta save damsels in distress to boost my reputation and amplify my charm!"

Roxas frowned and pushed Axel away, irritated by the redhead's lack of respect for his immaculately-styled 'do. "Right. If you say so." _Damn doofus._

Axel was silent for a few seconds. Just a few seconds. He could never shut up for long.

"Sooooo. Why'd you cover up for him anyways?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and made a disgruntled noise. "Dunno. Felt sorry for the guy? Didn't want the only sane person at the bar getting his ass fired? Saved his life so he'd owe me one later?"

"One of those?"

"All of them."

"Mmm… Well, can I ask you something?"

Roxas looked at his sorry excuse for a companion disbelievingly. "_What_ have you been doing for the past three minutes?"

"Point taken. Why'd you really sign up to work at The Fix?"

The blond was silent for a few moments, probably debating whether or not Axel deserved an answer. He adjusted his shirt and deftly flicked a stray lock of golden hair out of his eyes. And then he gave a small sigh. "I wasn't kidding the first time. Sora _really_ needs protection," he said at last, face unsmiling. "He's not… Well, you've _seen_ how he acts and you can tell that he thinks he's like some kind of badass teenage alpha male from the mob. But behind all that bull, there's just one little thing that'll bring everything down from under him."

Axel motioned for Roxas to continue.

Roxas crossed his arms. "He's openly gay."

Axel cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh… I see."

To say the redhead was extremely surprised about this revelation would be an understatement.

"Well, okay, not _openly_ openly," Roxas continued. "But sometimes, he can't help himself and he has this damned habit of divulging secrets to unpleasant people in the most flippant, thoughtless manner. Believe me, I've had to get him out of ridiculous situations in school. 'Specially with those assholes who hang around his locker area who seem to have something against homosexuality in general. But he's my best friend and all, so…" Roxas' sentence trailed away as he shook his head mock-tragically. "The dimwit's not exactly the brightest kid on the block, so I can't help feeling protective."

"Iiiinteresting. Well, I believe he'll fit in juuuuust fine at The Fix. So don't worry about the bouncy little tyke too much. He'll feel right at home."

"Why do I not want to know what you meant by that?"

Axel smiled deviously and said nothing.

"Okay, whatever. My turn. I've got a question too. Why the _hell_ do you _insist_ on getting into my pants, Axel?"

"Because…" Axel thought hard for a moment, then snapped two fingers together. "Because I'm openly gay?"

Roxas pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay. It's obvious I have nothing against gays. But, dude, just because Sora's my best friend doesn't mean _you_ get to push your luck."

"Aw, darling, it takes two hands to clap, but sometimes one hand can go to the other."

"… You disgust me."

"But you love me too, right?"

"No. I really don't."

* * *

When they arrived at Kenny's, the first thing Axel said made Roxas want to slap the man across the face for his impudence.

"Roxas, buy me a lollipop."

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

"… You serious?"

"Yes. Totally serious."

"… My money goes to my future Ferrari, not artificial-flavoured candy. Sorry."

"Ferrari, eh? Damn, you rich kids _always_ think big."

"Can't help thinking big," Roxas shrugged. "Ferraris are hot… and fast," he added as an afterthought.

"Hmm…" Axel pulled at his lip, then his face broke into a sly smirk. "Wanna acquaint yourself with something else that can be hot and fast? And _big_?"

Roxas snorted. "Don't tell me, because I really don't wanna know," he muttered. "You're such a fucking whore."

Axel pouted, feigning hurt, then crossed his arms. "Dude, Ferraris aren't economically friendly. I mean, hello? Captain Planet might personally hunt you down for driving one."

"… What?" Roxas intoned flatly. He had no idea what his fellow co-worker was going on about. Who the hell was Captain Planet?

The redhead stopped in his tracks, incredulous. "Captain Planet? He's a hero? Gonna take pollution down to zero?" he half-sang questioningly. "Aw, c'mon, you must have heard of him! Where were you in the early nineties?!"

"Well gee, I have _no idea_," Roxas bit out sarcastically, "running around in a sandpit in _kindergarten_ maybe?"

Axel more or less goggled at the boy in front of him. Mental images of a cute, blond-haired little kiddy Roxas began materialising in his head.

Roxas, realising the mistake he made about mentioning his nursery school years, decided to stalk off in the direction of the dairy isle.

Axel caught up with the blond quickly.

"Y'know what, Roxy?" the redhead asked as Roxas started loading ten cartons of full cream milk into his shopping basket.

"… I'm afraid to ask," the boy droned.

Axel grinned. "I believe your chick-loving days are going to come to an end quite soon."

Roxas didn't bat an eyelid. "Yeah, _right_. So says the fucking psychic pedofreak standing next to me."

"Oooh. Is that a challenge I detect? I _love_ challenges."

The challenger in question rolled his eyes, and to humour the smug bastard, the blond put the heavy basket down on the ground, stepped closer towards the redhead and gave the man an exceedingly mocking sneer, forcefully jabbing him in the chest with one finger. "Okay, baby. _Try me._ Try _real_ hard. We'll see how far you get in your fucked up attempts to work your homoerotic magic on someone like me. And if somehow you _get somewhere_, I'll exonerate your pathetic ass."

Axel blinked, mouth going a little slack.

"… God, Roxas…" he mumbled feebly, trying not to drool. "You're _so_ hot when you do that."

Roxas frowned at this unprecedented reaction, flipped Axel the bird and stormed off in the direction of the cashier, leaving Axel to drag the basket along by himself.

The redhead recovered quickly enough and grinned to himself rather triumphantly. "I _so_ got you, Rox. Hook, line and sinker. Time to reel you in. Sloooowly."

* * *

_**Author's note: **__Finally. Some Zemyx. _

_And despite still being in its early stages, I think this story is finally progressing quite nicely._

_There was a scene in this chapter that was not planned in the original plot, namely the beginning scene with Cloud having a conversation with Demyx. I figured __I should add a small scene where Cloud and Demyx bonded and gained an understanding of each other, becoming somewhat friends. I think it worked out alright. _

_Credit goes to my BCF, Ledan, for some of the stuff regarding promiscuous mathematics and Ferraris. He's a total genius. Even though he has no idea who Captain Planet is. But I totally forgive him for that. _

_The next chapter should be posted a lot sooner. I promise. _

_Reviews make my day._** :)**


	9. Chapter 9: MINT MOCHA CHIP FRAPPUCCINO

_**Author's Note: **__Holy candy-coloured iPods, Batman! An unexpected update! And… is it just me or does everyone seem to adore the punk/musician/barista-hybrid that is __**Demyx**__? (Insert raised eyebrow and slightly weirded-out expression here). Anyways, I had immense difficulty with this chapter due to juggling about 10 different characters (count them, I dare you). Oh, and also due to my glorious ability of being a slacker. Plus family problems suck (they've finally been resolved though, so s'all good)._

_That aside, I would like to thank all you reviewers out there because you guys rock so hard. I'm glad at least 60 percent of you know who Captain Planet is. :D And five hundred billion cookies will be awarded to __**The Mad Empty Shell**__ for picturing Captain Planet as Xemnas in a Superman outfit standing over his precious Kingdom Hearts. You totally _killed_ me with that._

_**Warning: **__Was listening to a hell lot of Mindless Self Indulgence tracks on repeat as well as trawling through Quinton Flynn's website under the influence of Kentucky Fried Chicken whilst writing this. Not responsible for impending brain damage._

* * *

**Chapter 9 – Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino**

**Mint:** _(noun) _Aromatic herbs of the genus _Mentha,_ cultivated for their aromatic oil and used for flavouring.  
**Mocha: **_(noun) _A coffee beverage infused with the flavourings of milk, sugar and chocolate.  
**Chip:** _(noun) _A very thin slice or small piece of food, candy, etc (e.g. chocolate chips, potato chips).  
**Frappuccino:** _(noun) _The name and registered trademark of a well-celebrated Starbucks beverage.  
**Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino:** _(noun)_ Reno Onér wonders why the hell The Fix doesn't pilfer this patented Starbucks beverage and offer it to their own customers. Tsk. Losers, yo.

"_**Send In The Clowns."**_

The relentless and highly sadistic sun beat down upon the unfortunate residents of the bustling city as though it wanted to murder everyone. This, thankfully, wasn't so much of a strange phenomenon because it was only an hour past noon after all. The sun had its license to kill at this hour. And despite going against the laws of precipitation, it never seemed to rain here in the grand Twilight Metropolis for some bizarre reason. It was always sun, sun, sun and (God forbid) more sun (with the occasional cloudy day, which would usually _then _be proceeded by even more sun). Of course, it goes without saying that the constant amount of UV rays that showered the city was directly proportionate to the number of people diagnosed with skin cancer every year. And no, you do not want to know the deadly figures.

Axel and Roxas, two of our fine young main protagonists, returned to The Fix via the kitchen's back door, dragging their recently-purchased dairy goods (all ten brand spanking new cartons of them) that they'd just obtained from the I Killed Kenny's convenience store down the sun-drenched road.

"'Scuuuuse me, Sex God comin' through," the redhead announced with bold vigour as he slammed the door wide open and marched in proudly with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, as though the mission he'd just accomplished deserved several rounds of applause and a gold medal to boot. "Oh _yeah_, and he's tooootally got milk!"

Sora (a.k.a. Kid Gangster) kind of stared at him, then giggled a little. Leon rolled his eyes as though already very much accustomed to Axel's flamboyant antics and strange conduct. Roxas, who had trudged in after the redhead, felt a compelling urge to kick the man in the shins (he was, believe what you will, a registered Taekwondo Black Belt) and watch him crumple to the floor in agony. Cloud and Demyx weren't even in the kitchen, which meant they were probably out in front, suffering the wrath of demon customers.

"That took awhile," Leon muttered as he grabbed the receipt out of Axel's outstretched fingers and checked through it. "What were you doing? Freeloading on cigarettes and alcohol?" he continued distractedly.

His redheaded member of staff shrugged. "Naw. You know I'd never_ ever_ do that to the funds of this franchise, my beloved boss man with the tight ass and eternal facial blemish across the forehead. I just wanted some candy, but Roxas refused to get me any. And then we got into this epic battle that was so freakin' _blockbuster_ that I nearly lost an arm! I threw him into a shelf full of condoms though. And then," he paused dramatically, "…I _won_."

And with that, Axel proceeded to do a little jig of triumph and twirled, giving Sora a classic high-five.

At that, it was no surprise that Roxas shot Axel a dirty look that held the promise of an extremely unexpected and violent/gruesome murder on the redhead's part. The redhead didn't really seem to take notice of this nasty glare as he was still too busy basking in the afterglow of his non-existent victory, in which Sora shared his all-encompassing glee and pride.

Leon's disbelieving frown could have been visible from several hundred miles away. "Fine," the man said with a huff, figuring (rather belatedly) that maybe he shouldn't put the blond and the redhead together for long periods of time if he could help it. "Whatever. Roxas, you unload the milk. And you two," Leon indicated both Sora and Axel, "get your asses out there and take Strife's and Aeco's place."

Axel's beaming mug deteriorated abruptly like a deflated balloon. "But — but this is an _outrage_! I just got back from shopping for your friggin' _moo goo_!" he spluttered.

"Exactly," Leon said, nodding uncaringly. "And now, you're going straight back to work. Because I say so. And because I'm the jackass who pays your wages. So scram. And don't you screw up, Axel. Sora's still under supervision."

Axel pouted for about half a second before Sora flounced towards him with a happy-purple-choo-choo-train smile and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him to the front. "C'mon, ya lazy baboon," the brunet chirruped. "We gon' have fun servin' those beeetches."

Axel blinked rapidly. So… _this_ was the kid who deemed himself openly gay? The redhead was impressed. And a little freaked out at the same time. And that never came often to him. How curious. How fuckin' weird. In that moment, he wondered just how in the blue hell Roxas came about meeting and befriending the little twerp. There was definitely bound to be some kind of an abso-posi awesome story behind the makings of their comradeship. He could totally tell.

So anyway, Sora and Axel both relieved Demyx and Cloud of their positions, with the felonious little high school adolescent taking up his usual post as a waiter and Axel stationing himself at the counter to take orders. The bar looked pretty damn crowded at the moment, what with the large number of teenagers from various well-known subcultures (emo, punk, goth, emo-punk-goth hybrid, prep, nerd, jock, Barbie princesses, under-aged hookers, homosexual, etc) as well as many random lovey-dovey couples seated more or less like, _everywhere_. Well, it _was_ a Saturday. Who knew what kind of weird, homeless, jobless, nameless freaks entered the coffee bar at this hour?

Demyx and Cloud, who'd both been working their asses off since morning, were more or less (note: more _than_ less) relieved that their posts were finally taken over. The two walked into the kitchen, sighing in unison. Peace at last.

That was until Leon spotted Demyx and beckoned for the mohawk'd kid with one hand (the one with Griever on it, which goes to show it was his favourite hand, or whatever).

"Hey, Dem? Come over here a sec. I wanna talk to you."

Demyx's expression morphed into one of extreme alarm and dread in about 0.123 seconds flat and he started to flail and scream "NON! JE NE PARLE PAS FRANÇAIS!" causing Leon to practically jump out of his skin, Cloud to spew approximately seven different swear words in one breath and Roxas to drop a carton of milk onto the floor which very narrowly missed his foot. This was closely followed by a "what the fuck?" on his part, which earned no response.

Leon, who had a hand over his heart (that he would _swear_ had somehow stopped for a few milliseconds or so), shook his head feebly. "Whoa, calm down, Demyx. Relax. This has nothing to do with, er, whatever you just said. And please, I implore you, stop with the French. I know you're taking language classes and I know some girls think it's outrageously 'suave and sexy' that you can speak in accented tongues, but frankly, nobody here can understand you."

Demyx looked utterly _shot _(and left for dead) that Leon would even dare use 'finger quotation marks' and was about to protest that French was the best language on the planet, but Leon crossed his arms gravely, effectively causing Demyx's objection to die in this throat.

"I'm serious, Dem. Anyways, I've got something to say to you. Come with me, we'll talk about this outside in private." And the self-righteous manager clamped a hand on Demyx's shoulder and steered the bewildered musician through the door out into the back alley leaving Cloud and Roxas staring after them with identical expressions of confusion plastered on their faces, until the door slammed shut again ominously.

"I didn't do it!" Demyx shrieked in supersonic as soon they were outside, drenched in a monstrosity of sunlight and fresh air. "Whatever it was, I swear on my Neopet's life I didn't do it, man!"

"Fuck, Demyx! Shut _up_!" Leon counter-yelled.

Demyx froze. Then stared, and after a moment of silence, eventually broke into a grin. "Y'know, it's kinda cool that I just made you raise your voice above Monotonous and Dull. Only time I ever hear you scream is like, during concerts and stuff. Which reminds me, it's really about time we oughta go for another one. I hear MSI's performing live next month. We should _totally_ get tix!"

"Yeah uh—"

"_Dig me now, fuck me later. Sing to the tune of FAGGOT FAGGOT FAG—!_"

"DEMYX!"

Demyx snapped back to attention. "Oh. Sorry. Chyeah? What's this about, dude?"

Leon rolled his eyes. _Dude? Suuure, call me whatever you want, why don't you?_ The man sighed inwardly. He never seemed to get any goddamn respect out of his employees. But he let it slide. Demyx was, after all, the 'cool guy' who gave him that free backstage pass to that wicked awesome TBM concert those few months back. He'd earned the title of 'good chum with unique hair' in his books.

"Demyx, I have an offer to make," the boss man said. "How would you like Mismatched Thirteen to play live at the bar every Friday night?"

At this, Demyx's eyes widened and his face kind of exuded the prized expression of utter HOLYSHITNOWAYSERIOUSLY?

"Really?! Here? At _Chez Leonhart_?!"

Leon smiled at his Good Chum. "Yeah. At The Fix. It's a two-way thing. You get to boost your band's rep by playing at our location and my business gets more customers in. I figured it'd be a win-win situation."

"Holy… _Jesus_. Damn. For serious? Whooooaaa." The guitarist was close to speechless (judging by his severely-reduced vocabulary). "I – I would totally be honoured, man! Frackin' hell, Leon… you serious? Like, _serious_ serious? … Maaaan… Gotta ask the rest of the band first though, but I'm hella sure they'd all be up for it. We've been waiting for an opportunity to do a public stunt at a bar for ages now!"

Leon nodded, pleased at Demyx's reaction. "Right. You've got the green light, but make sure you get back to me once you have your answer from your mates. We gotta blueprint where you guys'd want to stage your performance and stuff."

"Thanks, man. You're the best! Duuude! Like, we could totally start making über-sexy, eye-catching posters and stick them up to advertise the band and the gig dates! That'll draw in the customers for sure!" Demyx said, excited now. "Damn, this is gonna be so frickin' awesome!"

"Of course, there _is _the small matter of paying you guys to play—"

The musician gasped. "Oh, no, no, no, no! We couldn't take your money! I mean, after all, you were the one who said—"

"I insist, Dem."

"_No!_"

"Yes."

Demyx frowned for a moment, then relented. "… Well. I suppose we could work somethin' out."

Leon nodded. "It's settled then. Looking forward to doing business with you, compadre."

Meanwhile…

Back in the kitchen, Cloud and Roxas were pretty much silent, which made for a really uncomfortable atmosphere that seemed to swallow them both whole, bones and all.

Until the older blond decided to speak up.

"Hey. Roxas? Sorry about what I did to your face yesterday," Cloud muttered, very conveniently avoiding Roxas' gaze so he didn't have to see the after-effect of his handiwork. "And uh, thanks for not telling on me. That was very uh……" He scratched his head restlessly. "Hmm… thanks?" he concluded rather lamely, for lack of experience in the apology department.

Roxas snorted. "Yeah well, you owe me for that. Big time."

Cloud nodded. "Sure. I'd buy you a drink some time, but not right now. I'm kinda broke at the moment. Blew all my cash on a twelve-month deviantART subscription and a two-year Bike Mag subscription. Y'know, necessities."

Roxas waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it," he muttered. "We'll figure something out."

* * *

Somewhere around five, two attention-grabbing customers came swaggering/sashaying up towards the counter, simultaneously babbling about secret Turkish organizations and The House of the Dead and Time Crisis 3. The guy was wearing an open-necked white button-down shirt under an unbuttoned faded black jacket. His hair was one word: _awesome_. The girl was wearing a micro-mini dress that blinded everyone with its striking colour of Very Bright Neon Pink. It was four words: …Very Bright Neon Pink. 'Nuff said.

Axel spotted them almost immediately (who wouldn't?) and was caught between exuding a What The Fuck expression or facepalming himself. Honestly. He didn't know what to do, so he settled for just staring at them with an eyebrow raised as they approached him and stopped just short of poking distance.

The male, who was grinning in an I-Am-Totally-And-Utterly-_Badass_ manner, spoke first.

"Ax—el! We've come to see how you were doin', yo!"

Axel peered at the both of them dubiously, tapping his fingers against the countertop. "Oh, really? And why do I not believe you, _der Bruder_?"

The girl standing beside her companion gave a sort of silly laugh. It was a high-pitched, tinkling noise that raised a few heads of other people around them. Of course, it was pretty much her intention to ensure that everyone was aware of her existence in this universe. Subtlety was not one of her life-long ambitions.

"No, no, don't believe him," she twittered, flicking some of her crimson hair over her shoulder so that it shimmered in the artificial lights of the bar. "We were just 'round the corner visiting the arcade—I totally owned Reno at _everything_, by the way—and we decided to get drinks, cuz yeah, we were thirsty, _duuuh_. But instead of that Starbucks down the road, we figured we'd come here. It's like, a lot cheaper and stuff."

The dude, Reno, rolled his eyes. "Kai was goddamn adamant, even though SB's got my fave Frappuccino." He stuck his tongue out at the girl. "Inconsiderate teenage mutant _cheapskate_ of the stubborn variety."

"Yeah-huh, cool," Axel drawled. "Why the hell were you two at the arcade anyways? I was pretty sure the 'rents banned you two— us _three_ from ever going back there ever since Kairi was caught doing inappropriate things with the joysti—"

"Jeez. Can it, Ax. You _know_ what she'd do to you if you ever repeat that incident," Reno cut in, glancing at his sister.

But Kairi had already more or less stopped listening because her undivided attention had been pretty much diverted by a figure in the distance. She had caught sight of a certain brunet standing off to one side, handing drinks out to a middle-aged couple seated at a table. Her eyes lit up like no other eyes could ever light up. And her expression went from _glee!_ to _I see tasty meat!_

"Who's the blue-eyed cutie with the crazy hair over there?" she whispered not-so-secretively to Axel. "Reckon he's got a girlfriend?"

Axel glanced over at the cutie in question and looked back at Kairi, face breaking into an evil smile. "Why, I thought your days of slutting were over, dear sister?"

"They're over when I say they're over," the redheaded girl said matter-of-factly.

Axel _tsk_ed. "His name's Sora and he's not for sale," he said as solemnly as he could manage without inwardly cracking a rib. "I can guarantee he wouldn't be interested in you. 'Sides, he's way too innocent for skanks such as yourself."

Reno chuckled. "Like that's gonna stop her."

Kairi pouted a little, then, as though making her mind up, she tottered over towards Sora and awaited an opportunity engage him in some user-friendly tête-à-tête.

"She's gonna scare the crap out of him," Axel muttered, rolling his eyes. And he turned back to Reno. "'Sup, bro? How's college? How's Ru—"

Just then, Reno (with his amazing hawk-eyed vision and quick wit) spotted Cloud coming out of the kitchen and all at once, he forgot that Axel even existed for a few moments.

"Heeeeeey! If it ain't Cloud Strife! S'been awhile, huh?"

Not expecting such terror-inspiring people to start popping up out of the blue, Cloud's eyes widened like teacup saucers and the blond momentarily contemplated doing a complete one-eighty turn and walking straight back through the door he'd just come in from like he never encountered his ex-classmate of 2003.

"What's wrong? Don't you remember me?" Reno (the terrorist) was saying. "The guy who smashed the lunch tray over your head that one time in the cafeteria when you decided to call me a… what was it? A _brainless potato wussbag_?"

Cloud backed into the door slowly. He could still make it if he ran.

Of course, Roxas (unlucky kid that he was) took that moment to shove the door open. And it hit Cloud in the ass rather audibly.

"_What_ _the_—?" Roxas smacked his nose against the door, which had promptly swung back in full force towards his unprotected face.

Cloud jumped a foot in the air and stepped away from the entryway. "Oh, _shit__!_ Sorry, Rox!"

Axel made a disgruntled noise at this ridiculous demonstration. "What the fuck, man! Are you _trying_ to disfigure Roxy's face?"

Roxas walked out irritably, a hand over his nose. "F'bickin' _hebus_. Dat muduhf'kin' _hurd_!"

Reno blinked when he finally spotted the younger blond. "Strife, I didn't know you had a brother."

"I _don't_," Cloud bit out darkly and then momentarily shot Roxas a pathetically apologetic look that read 'Oh God, Please Don't Kill Me. I Promise I'll Buy You A Full Bottle of Brandy After I Get Paid'.

"No, he doesn't," Axel confirmed, "Roxas isn't related to Cloud in any way, shape or form." He reached out and jabbed Reno in the forehead. "And back off! Don't even _think_ about it. HE'S MINE."

"Watch it, flyboy," Roxas growled, slowly taking his hand away from his sore nose and scrunching it up experimentally. Somewhere at the back of his mind, the boy declared to himself that this goddamn place was a huge health hazard to him. Well, to his face, at any rate. And maybe to the rest of his body somewhere down the road if there was going to be molestation involved.

Reno grinned. "Yours, eh? He doesn't _sound_ very yours."

"He _will_ be."

"Huh. Well, good luck with that." Reno looked around at Roxas, whose nose had turned a nice, rosy pink. "Greetings, amigo. I'm Reno, this idiot's older brother—"

"You're two years younger than me, douche," Axel reminded him lightly.

"—and don't worry, I don't exhibit much, if any, of his happy-blissful-whoopdeedoo-I-am-so-gay-todaaay traits. That said, don't mind Axel. He's a rainbow-coloured fruit fairy, but if it's any consolation, I should let you know that he likes taking it up the—"

"_Way _too much information," Cloud muttered. Then realised he should not have opened his big mouth.

"Oh yesssss," Reno went on, eyes a-glimmer when his attention returned to Cloud. "Which reminds me. I used to be in most of Strife's classes way back in the day when we were testosterone-fuelled kids. We were _best friends_—"

"Hey! That's bullshit and you know it, man."

"—I mean, come on! He loved letting me use his stationery when mine kept miraculously disappearing—"

"You _stole_ three of my pencil cases. And you kept losing your own shit because you liked lobbing them at the teacher's head."

"—of course we had a friendly fight once during lunch—"

"You nearly _killed_ me."

"—and really, no one liked to be in his presence because he was just so angry all the time—"

"Keep it up Onér, I'll—"

"—but then he became all semi-cool and stuff when he started riding to school on his awesome bike. _Friend's Rear_, or something—"

"_FENRIR_, YOU SICK BASTARD!"

And whilst the redhead and the blond continued their interesting tirade of conversation and reliving their high school years, the_ other_ equally redheaded and blond-haired pair started a conversation of their own.

"Yeah, sooooo…" Axel feigned a yawn that spoke _volumes_ of what he thought about the ensuing Reno/Cloud debacle. "Roxy, seen any interesting movies lately?"

Roxas caught the underlying tone of sarcasm and played along in dry amusement. "Oh, yeah. Some fucking B-rated drama crap. Think it was called Your Brother Versus Very Disgruntled Emo Co-Worker."

Sora had bustled back to the counter, pursued by the redheaded girl that was Kairi. His expression held near-visible traces of distress and 'OHMYGRAAAH, WHY IS THIS GIRL LIKE, STALKING ME?!'

"Sora!" Axel called. "Looks like you've been acquainted with my sister."

Roxas snorted. "Your siblings are weird."

Reno heard that and broke off his exchange with Cloud. "Oy, get it right. Axel's the one who's weird, got it committed to memory, kid?"

Cloud felt like fleeing the scene completely.

"Axel!" Kairi admonished, "Get Sora to give me his number! He _has_ a number, doesn't he?"

Sora raised an eyebrow at the girl, trying to disguise his discomfort. Girls had cooties, for the love of planet Mars! He shivered inwardly and then tried distracting his train of thought by glancing over at Reno. "Hey. I noticed that you're gangsta," he said, nodding in gracious recognition. "I'm pretty gangsta myself."

Reno's face split into a smirk and he raised two fingers in salute, uttering one word.

"Yo."

Roxas, protective BFF that he was, looked a little peeved as he glanced back and forth between said best friend and Axel's younger brother, who seemed to be exhibiting very Axel-like behaviour. It was bad enough that the girl redhead was showing an interest in Sora. He decided that there was something _very_ wrong with the Onér family.

"What the hell happened to the _Serving Customers Their Drinks_ part?" Cloud barked loudly, immense apocalyptic hate evident in his cracking voice, earning several disgruntled glares from patrons. But it more or less shut everyone up, including a whining Kairi.

"Oh. That's right." Axel shrugged and turned to his younger brother and sister. "Coffee? Tea? Strawberry Pocky?"

Sora ran into the kitchen and disappeared then, before the redheaded girl could latch on to him permanently.

* * *

A few moments after the Onér siblings exited the bar (miraculously leaving without paying for some reason, although this could be because Axel was feeling extremely charitable again), Roxas and Cloud retreated back into the kitchen, casting Demyx out to work alongside the redhead like the cruel bastards that they are. Which would have been fine for the musician, if not for the fact that Leon's girlfriend and her step-daddy decided to pop in almost seconds later.

"Oh, this day just keeps getting more and more interesting!" Axel announced to no one in particular, and then he grinned at Marluxia. "LORD MARLOX! You're back! Awesome!" And he glanced towards Rinoa. "Hey, you!" he greeted her, calling her by the universal name everyone more or less used through sheer convenience when they've forgotten a name. "Your boy's in the kitchen, should I grab him for ya?"

"Mmm, nah," Rinoa shook her head. "That can wait. 'Sides, Marly wants to talk to him." She kind of shot her pink-haired guardian a semi-annoyed look that read: Why Do You Wanna Do That Again?

The man nodded unsmilingly, smoothing down his expensive tailored tuxedo. "I assume you forgot to tell your boss about my visit the other day?" he asked, directing that question to the redhead at the counter.

Axel blinked. "Oh. Yeaaaah, about that…"

"Doesn't matter. I shall speak to him in private today. For now, I believe Rin wants something to drink."

With that, the pink-haired millionaire mafia godfather/stepfather/whatever stepped around the counter and made his way towards the kitchen door.

Axel looked startled. "Wait! You can't go in there!" he exclaimed. "That's staff members only! You'll— argh! Never mind!" The redhead gave up and ran a hand through his hair, looking back at Rinoa. "Your dad's not used to other people telling him what to do, huh?"

Rinoa just shrugged. "He gets what he wants. Frankly, he can be a big meanie sometimes."

Axel sighed. "Okay. Let me guess, you want a vanilla milkshake?"

"Yup!"

"Right-o."

And whilst Axel went to work on her beverage, Demyx, who'd caught sight of the boss man's girlfriend in her tasteful two-thousand-dollar Swarovski crystal-embedded Jimmy Choo high heels, passed by the counter to greet her. "Heeeey, it's you again!" he beamed. "How's it goin'?"

Rinoa smiled warmly at the musician. "Oh, hi! I'm doing great, thanks for asking! Demyx, right? How are _you_?"

Demyx smiled at her gusto and grand enthusiasm. "I'm okay. A little tired, but a man's gotta do his job, huh?" He laughed a little, then made a move to return to clearing a few tables. But Rinoa made a timely grab for his arm.

"So I heard from Squall you're in a band, am I right?" she asked, eyeing Demyx with fluttering lashes.

"Uh… yeah." The band member in question smiled a little awkwardly, carefully tugging his arm away. "I'm the lead guitarist."

Rinoa grinned. "Can you sing?"

"Umm, a little? I do the backup vocals and take the lead singer's place sometimes," Demyx replied, a little uncomfortable now that Rinoa was moving closer to him.

Uh oh. Was she _flirting_ with him? Not good. Totally not good in various epic proportions.

"What kinda songs do you and your band play?"

"Well… we do mainly punk and alternative rock. And occasional grunge, I suppose."

"Oooh. Nice. Not really my cup of tea, but I'd _loooove_ to see you play something one day."

Demyx was reminded about his conversation earlier on with Leon. "Oh! Um, yeah! Well, you might be able to—"

He was cut short when loud yelling could be heard from the kitchen.

"—IS NOT! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE HER STEP-FATHER. LEAVE RIGHT NOW. DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HER THAT WAY."

And seconds later, Marluxia emerged from the back, shaking his head disappointedly, almost sadly.

He caught sight of stepdaughter and glowered. "Rin, you'll be the death of him, I swear."

With that, the man walked out of the bar with a gust of wind in his wake, his immaculately pristine locks of hair billowing about behind him in classic movie star fashion.

"Shit," Axel breathed. "What the fuck was _that_ about?" he wondered aloud.

Rinoa looked a little worried but didn't say anything, just clutched at her black leather Louis Vuitton purse tightly.

"Umm… Rinoa?" Demyx quipped.

"Cancel the vanilla shake. I think I'll leave now," the girl said at last. "Don't tell Leon I was here. I'll uh… I'll call him later."

"Umm… okay."

With that, Rinoa left in a hurry.

Demyx caught Axel's eye. Axel pulled at his bottom lip thoughtfully. And they were silent for a long moment.

Then, with his brow creased, Demyx asked, "Was that dude Rinoa's dad?"

Axel shook his head. "Close. He's her step-dad. Who, might I add, is more concerned about Leon's well-being than his own foster kid. She gets around a lot, if y'know what I mean."

"Oh…" Sudden understanding dawned upon Demyx and hit him like a school bus. "Shit. I think I kinda know what went on in there."

"Me too."

"…Tragic." Demyx shook his head. "Looks like Leon's pretty devoted to his girl."

"Yeah. Poor guy."

"I'm more worried about how Cloud's taking all the drama."

"Huh. You've got a point."

* * *

It was maybe an hour after sundown that Leon decided to close shop for some undisclosed, unexplained reason.

He didn't say anything about his exchange with Marluxia and everyone else who had witnessed the disagreement in the kitchen (i.e. Cloud, Roxas and Sora) weren't up to talk about it.

It goes without saying that the day ended abruptly with a hell lot of emo-angst in the air.

Perfect.

* * *

_**Author's note: **__Drama queens, yo._

_And I've just decided that my brains have melted into a pile of frothing goo after listening to Faggot by MSI about 9,999 times today. D: Further proof that addictions are not good._

_Reno/Cloud is the Axel/Roxas of the FF universe, except less gay for each other and more 'bring it on, you bitch'._

_Also, Demyx's aforementioned "NON! __JE NE PARLE PAS FRANÇAIS!" translates to something like "NO! I DO NOT SPEAK FRENCH!" Chyeah. _

_REVIEWS? DO WANT! :D_


	10. Chapter 10: BOILED CHOCOLATE

_**Author's Note: **__HELLO. I come bearing good news! 'Tis a new chapter of YDCF! And forgive me, I realise I've been neglecting this somewhat, what with this update being about four months late. And I have no good excuse for that. So you may shoot me in the shoulder blades and hear me beg for mercy. Thank you, that is all._

_Oh, and, here's a shout out to __**Christy-Sama**__, who sent me a random PM yesterday asking for an update: HELLO, YOU! SEE? I UPDATED. YAAAAR. :D_

* * *

**Chapter 10 – Boiled Chocolate**

**Boiled:** _(adj.) _Vaporised liquid via applied heat.  
**Chocolate: **_(noun) _A preparation of seeds from the cacao fruit, roasted, husked and ground, often sweetened and flavoured.  
**Boiled Chocolate:** _(noun)_ _Your Daily Caffeine Fix_ figure of speech equivalent to 'hot water'. Example: _"You're in boiled chocolate now, sucka."_

"_**Give the poor bastard a break. And maybe some pie."**_

It wasn't really normal of Leon to walk into The Fix a few hours behind schedule. In fact, it wasn't really normal of Leon to walk into The Fix a few _minutes_ behind schedule. Especially on Sundays. Today was an exception as he walked in something like a hundred and twenty minutes late. Of course, that wasn't to say he didn't get up early. Actually, he woke up extraordinarily early for a man his age due to the fact that at the unreasonable hour of around five in the morning, a text message from his beloved girlfriend, Rinoa Heartilly, roused him from his most peaceful slumber and consequently sent him into a vicious state of mourning.

He was late because said text message went as follows:

_Squally! irvy, zell & selph r having a wicked party on tues nite.  
__also, it's over. met someone new yesterday. from the starbucks near the fix.  
__he has a WEIRD name. seifer almasy. i think u know him.  
__i'll get him to return you your ring.  
__xoxo Rinny._

Now, despite the somewhat lengthy message being written in such a vaguely obnoxious and exasperating (not to mention disturbingly endearing) way—which gave Leon the impression that he'd actually been going out with an illiterate bebop hippie with a lot of cash and a dog named Angelo—the man surprisingly still had the strength and heart to fling his phone out his open window, hear it crash three storeys below, bury his head in his pillow and wrap himself in a large cocoon of disbelief, heartache, despair and overall general angst.

So, that morning, after staring at himself for an eon in his foggy bathroom mirror and having a ridiculously sloppy breakfast consisting of semi-cooked eggs, cold watered-down camomile tea and a quarter jar of crunchy peanut butter (half of which managed to get all down his shirt for some reason), Leon quasi-pathetically made his way to the wonderful coffee bar in which he proudly owned, doing something like 20mph all the way there in his very-cool Volvo (which caused quite a lot of noise pollution and several minor road accidents to ensue somewhere in the vicinity of the Immediate Surrounding Area). The weather seemed to reflect his current mood because it was dark, gloomy and drizzling this morning. And trust me, dark, gloomy and drizzling almost never happened in Twilight Metropolis.

Leon was late. He _knew_ he was late. Why was he late, you ask? Because Cloud Strife was already there at the coffee bar. And well, Cloud Strife was supposedly _always_ and _forever_ late.

In short, Squall 'Leon' Leonhart was pretty damn late.

And sometime during his excruciatingly slow drive to The Fix, he single-handedly figured to himself that he wasn't going to that aforementioned party on Tuesday night.

* * *

Cloud was not entirely surprised to find himself the first person at the bar that morning. Of course, he knew he was given the right to open up on Sunday (and Monday) mornings (a task which he rarely managed to accomplish because usually, Leon or Axel would get there first). However, in an unexpectedly bold (and perhaps largely unintelligent) move, the blond had come in at least _ten_ minutes _early _on this day. Unusual for the barista, sure. But something niggling at the back of his mind told him to come down ahead of time. And he figured, if Leon could see him in action, doing his job well and proper, then that would be a major plus, too. Right?

If he'd only known just how much his next few hours would be similar to someone dropping an anvil on his head and mashing his face in with a boot (at the exact same time), he would've turned up maybe a couple of days, maybe weeks, late. But hey, he wasn't Agnes Nutter. Neither was he Philip J. Fry. Which meant Cloud was pretty much going to suffer horribly on this day, for the cosmic universe was nigh against him in considerably epic proportions.

He glanced up. The clock on the wall said:

**8:13**.

Actually, it was nine-twenty in the morning. It was only 8:13 due to the fact that the clock on the wall hadn't worked since day two of the bar's grand opening half a year ago. No one had ever bothered replacing the four double-A batteries for six months now. And well, let's face it, no one will bother for a long time to come.

The radio was softly crooning the lyrics to _Die Alive_ by Tarja.

_Every moment and its memory, not only to survive: to die alive._

Strangely, Cloud's only thoughts circling in his head were whether Tarja could beat Anette in a fair fight.

Okay, not quite. Cloud was currently wondering why he was _still_ the only person at the bar. He knew the kids came in a little later at around noon. But his boss should've been here two hours ago and Axel wasn't usually tardy (okay, maybe he was, but still, _two_ hours late, for crying out loud!). Something serious must've cropped up, the blond told himself sensibly. The more realistic part of his brain, however, was telling him that Axel was probably suffering from a massive hang over and Leon was at the doorstep to The Fix right about now.

_**Ker-BLANG**_.

Yup, that would be him now. And what in the world would cause him to slam the front door open with such forced menace and destruction? Wasn't Leon a sophisticated man of debonair and culture?

Cloud Strife turned on the spot and was greeted with the sight of—

"Holy _shit, _man. What happened to you?"

Leon silenced his employee swiftly with a hand in the air, palm forward. The sharp gesture clearly meant: _Stow it, I don't want to talk to you right now. Continue, and I shall do painful things to you and your windpipe. And possibly your pancreas, but we'll see about that._

Cloud blinked stupidly.

"Um, Leon?"

"_Shut_—!"

Yes, Leon only got that far before Cloud got the full message and went back to doing whatever he was doing before the boss interrupted him (which was mindlessly counting and recounting the 49 dollars and 80 cents that had accumulated in the till since this morning). It was strangely disturbing to Cloud that he was finding the clearly-irate-and-irrational Leonhart to be quite fascinatingly attractive in his furious light. Undeniably… aggressive. And definitely… _hot_.

_Somebody in Kansas City loves meeee,  
__Somebody is waiting 'til we're all aloooone._

The Strife wanted to break something, anything, so that his train of thought could derail right then and there. But of course, if he were to break anything in the bar, Leon would most likely maul his pathetic ass, which at the moment, Cloud didn't think he'd mind…

_Oh my God,_ Cloud screamed at himself. _Don't go there!_

He _seriously_ didn't understand why he was being turned on right now. I mean, clearly, his object of infatuation was not in his right mind. Must be the weather, Cloud deduced astutely. Yeah. The weather. Obviously.

Leon shouldered his way around the counter, barged past a stiffening Cloud (no pun intended) and pulled the plug on the radio. It died screaming: _He's like that tin man with a big heaaaart. It ain't easy, he loves meee. AND THE ROCKET LAUNCH, START THIS SH—_

It was around about this time that Cloud realised Leon was probably going through his own personal Armageddon right now. And there was a sign hanging over his boss's head with an arrow pointing downward that said: VERY EMO. DO NOT DISTURB. HAVE A NICE DAY. 'KAY, THANKS, BYE.

_I hate my life, _Cloud decided quite belatedly, and reverently began boiling some water.

"Er, tea?" he offered cautiously to the silence as white steam wafted into his face.

Leon stared at him blankly. Then, he answered with a resigned sigh, "Yes, please."

* * *

Demyx started the day with Yogurt Burst Cheerios in his stomach and Sum41 music blasting into his perfectly-mutilated ears. The volume of his iPod Classic (80GB, black, engraved with '_M13_', leather protective casing, modified earphones) was so unnecessarily loud that the old lady in the ugly blue skirt and white-purple chemise could hear Fat Lip playing from seven plastic seats away on the speeding bus. She glared at Demyx, who didn't register the blatant fact that anyone was looking at him in a mildly threatening manner. So, the kid continued bobbing his head to the music, his mohawk swaying along to the beat, pale light glinting off his piercings and golden neck chain.

This was entirely routine for the young man, especially on days when he had classes early in the morning (Mondays and Wednesdays: _Composition and Musicology_ and _Litterature Contemporaine_ respectively). Of course, today was a Sunday. But he was on his way to work anyways. So instead of 411, he took 107, which dropped him off a few blocks away from The Fix, where he was employed as a part-time barista.

It wasn't a secret. Demyx was another casualty of society; a victim of a conformity.

But despite this, he liked his relatively new job. His colleagues were decidedly made of some kind of awesomesauce, or radicalsoup (he couldn't yet decide which) and they were definitely the coolest bunch of people on the planet. They were all highly pleasant to work with. Including that Cloud guy. No, _especially_ that Cloud guy.

_Poor bugger,_ Demyx thought sadly. _Dude needs something to relieve him of his pent-up sexual frustration._ The blond shook his head a little. "Wow, I really like Sum41," he disconnectedly muttered to himself, thumbing his iPod with unconscious lethargy. _I hope Mismatched Thirteen get to play at the bar soon. Leon was real nice to give us a spot at The Fix. Oh hey, speaking of The Fix, there it goes now!_

Indeed, the coffee bar flashed past the window and disappeared around a corner. And then another corner. And yet another.

And that was when Demyx realised rather late that he had just missed his stop.

"Aw, poop."

So, about fifteen minutes of backtracking later, Demyx managed to get himself safely to the bar without further mishap. The long walk alone was a terrible affair, what with the dark and depressing (not to mention damp and icky) weather. But Demyx didn't quite mind. He had his navy blue umbrella with him. And he had Skillet, Rob Zombie and Lacuna Coil to keep him company through this trying time.

Sidestepping the illegally parked Volvo outside The Fix, Demyx shut his umbrella and pushed through the front door, flashing everyone inside a huge grin that read: _Happy birthday, y'all! LET'S SING THE POKÉRAP TOGETHER!_

His smile promptly evaporated when he realised the bar was almost empty. He traipsed his way to the back, where he found two people. The one sprawled on the chair in the corner looked pretty much _dead_, the other looked close to wringing his own neck due to the fact that he had no idea what to do about said guy who looked pretty much dead.

Demyx's mind took awhile to register who these two people were. It took him about five seconds to emit a rather dramatic gasp when he recognised his boss. And then, remembering something significant, he carefully plucked his expensive earphones out of his ears, wound them up neatly around his iPod, placed the thing safely into the side pocket of his red-black messenger bag and looked back up at Leon with an expression of confusion and uncertainty.

"Er, Leon? Is there a reason why there's toothpaste in your hair? … And, er, is that peanut butter on your crotch? Also, your, er, why… er, why is half your shirt sleeve burnt off?"

Leon's brows creased and he slowly drove a hand through his dark hair, which was indeed spattered in white goop. Apparently that morning, he'd completely forgotten that toothpaste did not equal hair gel. As for the peanut butter and burnt clothes…

"Accident," Leon shrugged, and went back to sipping from his tea nonchalantly.

And yes, Leon did, in fact, have a fight with his gas stove that morning, trying to boil his eggs. It was a miracle his entire abode didn't just catch on fire and go up in smoke.

"Er, okay…" Demyx glanced at Cloud dubiously. Cloud looked helplessly back.

And then Leon cleared his throat and looked up from his steaming mug, as though what he was about to say would be extremely important and would decide the fate of the planet and its doomed inhabitants.

"Demyx?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Er," said Demyx cleverly, thinking for a few moments. "Whatever do you mean, sir?"

"It's Sunday."

"Yes."

"You don't come in on Sundays."

"Is that so?"

"Very much so."

"… Oh," said Demyx thoughtfully, fidgeting a little on the spot. "Hmm. Well. _Damn_."

* * *

Regardless of what you may believe of Cloud's previous speculations, Axel Onér was not, in fact, suffering from any sort of hang over. He was actually at home (where he lived with his family of five, and yes, Axel was a grown man of twenty-three, do not question it), sitting comfortably on the floor and staring intently at the television in front of him. Nope, not suffering from a hang over.

That wasn't to say he wasn't _suffering_.

He was actually trying to _'pwn'_ his brother on the Nintendo Wii. And he was not exactly enjoying himself.

"FUCK YOU, RENO. YOU'RE CHEATING."

"Excuse me? Just because you suck doesn't mean I'm _cheating,_ yo. How the hell do you cheat on Brawl anyway?"

"CHEATEEEEER. THEY _NEVER_ CHANGE THEIR SPOTS."

"Oh my God, shut up in there! MOM! RENO AND AXEL AREN'T SHUTTING UP."

"THE STUPID GIRL IS LYING TO YOU!"

There was suddenly an impromptu scuffle as Kairi burst into the room and tackled Axel to the floor. The Wii remote clattered away under Reno's bed and smacked into a misplaced Hercules action figure.

"Gethe'elloffami!" Axel gurgled and Kairi attempted to scratch his eyes out. "Raaaape!"

"I'm wiiiinning," Reno sang as his Yoshi blew Axel's Sonic the Hedgehog out of the arena and towards Kingdom Come.

"_Arrrrgh_," came Axel's articulate reply.

And then rather abruptly, as though struck by a wild notion, he sat up so straight that his spine cracked. And Kairi was thrown off of him.

Axel looked around sheepishly, scratching at his head. "Ah, shit. Today's not a public holiday, is it?"

"Er, no?" Reno replied ever so helpfully.

"Eeeugh. Crap. So not cool."

* * *

Half an hour later…

Axel gingerly stepped through the back door of The Fix, fully dressed and ready to assume to his role of Most Trustworthy Employee at the Caffeine Fixation coffee outlet. If anyone asked, he figured he would not say that he'd spent the morning playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl with his retarded sibling, but he would just reply with a firm nod of acknowledgement and say, "Indeed. The cab I took on the way here kind of spontaneously combusted due to the awful rain and we promptly crashed into a ditch."

He was saved from uttering this horrid tale because, almost immediately, he spotted Leon and exuded a similar reaction to Cloud's when the blond had first set eyes on the boss.

"HOLY FLAMING BOTTLES OF COLGATE. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?"

Cloud looked up and shot Axel a dirty look reminiscent of Roxas' several days back.

Then, without pausing for breath, Axel spun around and pointed at Demyx.

"Wha' in th' name o' all things questionable're _you_ doin' 'ere?"

Demyx shrugged quite calmly. "Y'know, I feel quite silly right now for actually turning up. _Please_ don't rub it in."

"Aye, aye, matey. Ye be stayin', then?"

"Yes, I guess? Nothing better to do. Plus it'd be cool to just hang around and lend a hand, even if I don't actually gotta work or anythin'."

"Aye, tha's a good lad. Now, any idea why our cap'n here's actin' all sourpussy and end-of-the-worldy?"

"Axel, what the _hell_ did you hit your head on?" Cloud barked, having had enough of the redhead's rambling dialogue.

"Ah, you see, while I was on my way here—"

"_Shit_," Leon cursed wildly without warning, rocketing out of his seat as though his pants had jaws and were trying to eat him. All three employees looked around at him in unison, astounded by the amount of vehemence their boss conveyed in just that one word alone.

"Shit?" Axel prompted, willing Leon to go further and explain his outburst.

"Shitshitshit. My _phone_."

"What about it?"

"I threw it out my window this morning."

Demyx nodded understandingly. "Perfectly normal thing to do, sir. Especially to such an expensive thing like that. Perfectly normal."

Cloud elbowed Demyx in the ribs painfully.

"_Shit_."

Axel rolled his eyes. "We heard you the first time, boss. Any reason why you decided to relinquish your hold on your cell in such an undignified but highly-stylish manner?"

Leon stared at Axel for a moment. Then, he sat down again and exhaled loudly, as though he were dying and just about to tell the world exactly why. Not that the world really wanted to know in the first place.

"Rinoa broke up with me."

There were two counts of pure, unadulterated silence. And then…

"NO WAY! THAT SUCKS, MAN," Axel practically exploded. _Hah! I soooo saw it coming. Poor sucka._

"Oh dear, that's just _awful_," Demyx shook his head sympathetically. _Kinda saw it coming. Poor Leon._

"… Er…" said Cloud smartly, face absolutely blank._ Didn't see it coming, but, YEEEESSSS! This is good! It's good. Right…?_

In the distance, there was a muffled rumble of thunder.

* * *

Roxas slammed the fridge door shut, trudged over to the breakfast table with his glass of pink lemonade and sat down to eat his sugar-dusted cinnamon roll. It was an hour till work, but he'd need to go over to Sora's place first to get the idiot out of bed. He always seemed to be doing that on a regular basis. If there was one thing Sora's parents loved most about their son, it was definitely said son's best friend. Roxas was something like a personal alarm clock to Sora. In fact, the blond was so good at what he did that Mrs. Vaïve gave him a nice, shiny dollar every single time he successfully managed to get her son up (and this resulted in Roxas becoming quite prosperous). The lazy bugger could sleep through dinner if you'd allow him that one guilty pleasure. He could probably sleep through a goddamn nuclear war and be none the wiser. For that, Roxas worried about his best friend's wellbeing.

But that was way beside the point.

If anything, the blond believed he'd taken up a job in Hell. Or at least a miniature version of it. Arguably, it was _all_ Sora's fault. If only his friend had taken a job at, say, that nice peaceful little florist down St. Jimmy's Boulevard which the pleasant Miss Gainsborough owned, he'd be _a lot_ happier. Indeed, he'd heard she needed help with her flowers, plastic and/or otherwise.

Why were they even _working? _They came from money-loaded families. Sora's father was like, the fucking mayor of Twilight Metropolis and Roxas would be damned if his own dad didn't churn out award winning novels that sold billions of copies worldwide.

Fact: Roxas' father was a famous author under the pseudonym 'Nooj' and his mother was a well-known supermodel (who went by the tacky name of 'LeBlanc'—you may have heard of her).

Fact II: Roxas believed that he and Sora didn't need to work. They needed to spend their time wisely, like on fencing lessons or water skiing or… learning skateboard tricks, or something. He believed his sister had the right idea, and that was to blow their parent's funds on pricey cotton duck canvases, large art palettes, glossy frankincense oil paints and kolinsky sable paintbrushes.

Fact III: Sora was his Best Friend. And Roxas always stood by his Best Friend, no matter what—be it fending off homophobic tormentors or aiding him in his Modern History essay. Because he knew that if he didn't, Sora would get into all sorts of shit (like getting himself mauled by the neighbour's Staffordshire bull terrier, Goofy), and that would mean Roxas would have failed in his duty as a goddamn Best Friend.

But even so, _seriously _speaking, working at The Fix was getting to be way too grating on his nerves.

I mean, come _on _people. First and foremost, it's only been week one, and he'd already gotten assaulted. _Twice_. A curled fist and a fucking _door _had made loud and painful contact with his _face_. Secondly, most of his co-workers were highly likely made in _Retardedville_. In particular that Demyx guy. No, _especially_ that Demyx guy.

And last (but certainly not least), there was the existence of a stupid jerk named Axel.

If it weren't already obvious, it should be known that Roxas really didn't like that stupid jerk named Axel.

He was egotistical, overconfident, way too loud, way too open, way too cunning and, and… the _one thing_ Roxas despised most about that redhead was that he was way too fucking _tall_. Honestly. He could take everything else if not for the height issue.

Let it be known now that Roxas did not take lightly to people who were taller than him, especially if they were well aware of the fact and loved to rub it in.

And that jackass probably went through ten bottles of hair products a week.

Okay, so Roxas did too. That wasn't the point.

The point was: He had _flaming red hair_. Who the hell had _flaming red hair_? Was his entire damned family blessed with _flaming red hair_?

Also, _also_, the redhead was definitely anorexic. Or on drugs. Or both. And Roxas didn't like people who were anorexic. Or on drugs. Or both.

Actually, Roxas just didn't like Axel. Period.

Okay, so Roxas had this whole list of excuses (approximately sixty-nine of them) on why he didn't like Axel Onér. Because he knew that if he didn't reassure himself that there actually _were_ reasons why he detested the redhead, he might actually start _liking_ the guy.

And that just wouldn't do now, would it?

* * *

Sora shifted around under his blankets and mumbled something like, "Mmm. You're… all squishy and warm and… stuff." The rain outside pattered against his windows melodiously and the brunet was probably feeling quite comfy right now.

His left eye twitched madly and he unconsciously rolled over onto his stomach and mashed his head into his pillow. In a few moments, he was drooling. "Buy me some candy, please. I like candy. I want candy. Please? Roxas never buys me candy. He never buys _anyone_ candy. He's a biiitch. All raarrgh and bitchy and stuff. Eh, you're all nice and… other stuff. Candy? Yarrrr… I like you too. Like I like candy. And wafflessss. And ooooh, _yes_, maple syrup. I like that _a lot_. Ooooh."

_Sick an' tired of hearin' all these people talk about. What's the deal with this pop life and when's it gon' play out?_

'N Sync's _Dirty Pop_ started playing somewhere to the boy's left.

Moaning discontentedly, he let it go on for another fifteen seconds before he started groping around for his phone on his bedside table. He somehow managed to swipe the remote control of his 50″ Full HD Plasma TV onto the floor before locating it and answering it groggily.

"… Gurk. Y-yeh?"

"_Hey_, get your queer ass out of bed, man."

Sora gave a stifled sort of grunt and completely rolled off his bed (an impressive feat, considering it was king-sized), landing on the varnished parquet flooring with a solid _thump_. He groaned sleepily, brain not registering a sudden bout of pain that throbbed through his entire right shoulder.

"Sora Vaïve, I swear to God, man. If you're _wanking off_ right now—"

"Mmmmrox, go away… I neeeeeed… nice maple syrupy Riiiiku… I mean wafflessss."

**SLAM.**

"_Get the hell off the floor, you moron_."

Click. Dial tone.

Sora winced and looked up from the ground, where he found a seething Roxas glaring at him from his doorway, iPhone clenched in one hand and fire burning in his bright blue eyes.

"H'lo, Roxuuuus, I see you have c'mere to devi- delver- dilver? … er, _give_ me some wafflesssss, no?"

"No," Roxas said firmly. "Now get up. We'll both be late for work."

"Who da heck letchu into mah home, homie?" Sora whined, dragging himself upright.

"Your mom."

"Noooo, _your_ mom," the brunet insisted. Then he blinked. "Wait. Why're you wet?" He squinted accusingly. "Did you piss yourself?"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "It's pouring outside."

"B'zuh? Pouring what?"

The blond pointed at Sora's window wordlessly.

Sora stared uncomprehendingly for a few seconds. Then it clicked. "Ohhhh. You mean it's _raining_ outside."

"Whatever. Get dressed, please, before I no longer find myself obliged to let you copy off my priceless Chemistry notes."

Sora pouted for a short, contemplative moment, as though weighing the odds on the smug bastard ever doing such a monstrous thing. Then, reluctantly surrendering and giving in to his friend's demands, he sombrely got up to get ready for work.

Either way, the two boys in question managed to make it to The Fix in excellent time, both of whom caught a lift in Sora's dad's V12 _Sonderklasse 600_ Mercedes-Benz sedan (leather upholstery, dual-zone automatic climate controls, voice recognition navigation system, power panoramic sunroof, premium sound system, 6-disc CD changer, satellite radio, multicontour massaging seats, night vision). Good thing too, because it was storming pretty badly outside.

And with that, the rich kids entered the bar and assumed their exclusive roles as Rookie Barista Sora and Rookie Barista Roxas (as opposed to Son of Wealthy Politician and Son of Legendary Writer and Notorious Supermodel respectively).

And it would be much later that Sora would come to realise that he didn't take Chemistry as a subject.

* * *

So the day proceeded as per normal, despite Leon being 'sort of' out of commission for the time being (what with him having lost his fair maiden to some loser at Starbucks and moping around like Christmas came and went and he didn't even get a greeting card). Axel took it upon himself to act as a sort of stand-in, insisting that he was taking over the job and supervising the new employees; _an insufferable task_, as he put it. Okay, he was just being an annoying pest.

In the back, the redhead was trying very, very hard to take the initiative.

"_Leon_. I could go get you some beer from down the road. Or perhaps something stronger. Vodka? Gin? Bourbon? The liquor store's got a pretty awesome collection. I could just skip down there and—"

"Axel, _do your job_," Cloud groused.

Axel frowned. "Just trying to help the man ease his pain, y'know?" The redhead gesticulated wildly in Leon's direction. "Dude, he used to be so _happy_."

Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"Guh," Leon muttered unresponsively in his daze, not really understanding the ebb and flow of the conversation that was taking place in front of him.

Despite Axel's proposal, it seemed as though Leon didn't need to get drunk. He was already reduced to a state that was half-comatose and half-drugged. Cloud was pretty sure the chair he was sitting in would cease to support him soon, what with the way the man was leaning in such a manner. He was like a puddle of severely-depressed goo.

Meanwhile, out in front, Sora and Roxas (with assistance from Demyx, who wasn't supposed to even be here today) were doing their jobs by the book (unlike those idiots in the kitchen. God knew how this place functioned before the new staff arrived). At least out here, things were going as they should. Right about now, Sora was by the counter, taking the orders of this trio of beautiful young ladies. One of them looked surprisingly familiar.

"Oh hiiiiiiiiiii! You must be Soraaaa!" she quipped, waving enthusiastically, long braided hair swaying with the dynamic motion. Her grin was a brilliant sunbeam that lit the place up magically. She was like one of those spectacular disco balls.

Sora did a double take and grinned back like a burning ball of gas. Put these two in a room and watch it blow to smithereens with mega doses of radiation. "Oooh, I remember you!" he exclaimed. "You're that chick who kept calling Cloud '_Strifeman_'."

"Oh gosh! You _remember_ me? That's _so_ cool! And yeah! I'm Rikku."

Sora tapped his chin. "Rikku, huh? I met some guy two days ago with a name that sounded _exactly_ like yours. Neat!"

Rikku laughed. "Trust me, it's not exactly a common name. Oh well. So, where _is_ the Strifeman, exactly?"

"Out back," Sora answered, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the door that led to the kitchen. "Kinda noticed the sombre mood in there and decided that it's five million times better out here. Didn't wanna stick around and be a bother to them seniors anyways. Those three big boys seem to be hecka tight, if y'know what I mean."

Rikku tilted her head to one side. "Well. I suppose. I dunno. Strifeman's usually going on about how much he hates his job, and his boss, and _that infernal redheaded donkey_, to quote him on it. So I dunno if you'd call 'em _tight_."

"Meh. They're all _totally_ buddy-buddy. I _so_ can tell."

"_Ahem,_" one of the other ladies cleared her throat impatiently. She was dressed in semi-gothic garb. And she reminded Sora of a vampire for some reason. Were those red contact lenses? Freaky.

"Oh. Oops," Rikku giggled. "Sora, these are my gal pals, Paine and Yunie, er, _Yuna_," she pointed to each girl respectively. Apparently, Yuna looked like a pop star and Paine was the dark bloodsucker.

"Hi," Yunie, er, Yuna waved at Sora with a polite smile.

"We didn't ask to be introduced, Rikku," the Dark One intoned. "We came to get drinks."

"Right, right. Sure," Rikku nodded and turned back to Sora quickly, giving him an exasperated look that clearly read: _Jeez, I don't even know why she even hangs out with me. Wonder what made us such good friends. I think I annoy her way too much. Paine's always so cynical and sarcastic and half the time she doesn't laugh at my jokes, and I just don't get her own jokes sometimes. And I think I might be in love with her, but I don't know. Maybe. You see, I am clearly not a lesbian. Yet. But I might be. And hey, are those cookies? I gotta get me some of those._

Yes. Believe it or not, Sora was quite capable of understanding the look she gave him.

"Soooo, we'll be having the—"

"Wait, I got it. Lemme guess, toffee nut latte, banana milkshake, flat white, all large? And I see you eyeing those cookies. Want some, huh?"

Yuna gasped. Rikku gaped. Even Paine managed to look a little impressed.

"Wow, you're real good," Rikku whispered with newfound respect.

Sora shrugged, embarrassed. "Ah, I've got a pretty radical memory. Which is freakin' weird, cuz I fail my classes when I swear to God I study for them. By the way, toffee nut lattes are the shiznit!"

"Whoa, _hey_!" Demyx called from the other side of the room. "Holy mother of… I don't believe it! It's Yuna and company! IT'S WHY-AR-PEE!"

Sora stared, bewildered. "Why are what?"

"Y.R.P. He means us," Paine explained to Sora. "Yuna, Rikku, Paine."

"Oh." Sora was a little confused.

"We're a local band."

"Oh." That cleared up very little.

Yuna grinned at Demyx, who was practically stumbling over to the counter.

"Dem! You work here!"

"Yuuuuuna!" Demyx gave Yuna a hug. "Aw, _man_! It's been _years_ since I've last seen you."

Sora blinked. "You guys know each other?"

"We all went to high school together," Rikku supplied helpfully.

Yuna nodded. "Yup. I was in his music class. And I saw him grow from an edgy greenhorn into an awesome musician. And then we were neck-and-neck at the finals of the Songster Music Festival Competition in our final year."

"And then you kicked my ass and became Songstress."

"You came second," Yuna laughed. "Nothing bad about that."

Demyx nodded. "Yeah. You _deserved_ the Songstress Award, though. You were, and always_ will _be, the awesomest singer." Then, he looked over at Rikku and Paine. "You guys still tight, huh?"

Rikku grinned. "Still tight, Dem."

"Sweet! Last time I saw you two, you weren't speaking to each other."

"That was a long time ago, Aeco."

"Yeah. Figured. Man, heard you guys're getting pretty famous with your band!"

Rikku shrugged. "The fans haven't sent us overly-creepy mail yet, so nah, not that famous."

"What about you?" Paine asked, crossing her arms with a slight smirk. "Heard you started your own band up at UT."

Demyx gushed and started jabbering away about his own band.

It was around this time that Sora kind of got lost in the conversation and decided to go make the drinks instead. The three girls ended up sitting at one of the tables with Demyx for the next twenty minutes, chitchatting away like old friends. Which was pretty close to what they were, really.

* * *

"Alright, alright. Look here, Leon," Axel was saying back in the kitchen. "It's high time you moved on and bought a violin or something. Take up a hobby. Go fly a kite. Make muffins. Learn to sew. Write crappy movie reviews for the local papers. Breed fighting fish. Become gay. Forget about that millionaire chica. As your good friend and faithful employee, I strongly and optimistically encourage it. So, do the right thing. Be a _man_."

Leon stared at Axel. Then he looked over at Cloud imploringly.

"Please shoot him."

* * *

As soon as Yuna, Rikku and Paine left, Sora voiced his thoughts.

"Wow. Y'know, I think those friends of yours are pretty nice. And that Rikku chick is _cool_."

Demyx beamed. "They rock. For serious. In fact they— Oh!" All of a sudden, he remembered something. "Ah. Er. Hmm… Speaking of Rikku," the musician said thoughtfully, "a Riku fella came in to look for you yesterday morning."

The brunet blinked, then gave Demyx a wide-eyed stare.

"Really?!" he managed to squeal without choking or going into immediate cardiac arrest.

"Yeah. Uh… Sorry. I totally forgot." Demyx rummaged into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, then he took out a scrap piece of paper. "Just before he left, he passed this to me and told me to give to you." He handed it over to Sora.

On the piece of paper, there was a name, a number and the words 'can we be friends?' written in neat, minuscule script right at the bottom.

Demyx grinned widely at an amazed Sora.

"Well, looks like he's keen on ya, huh?"

* * *

By 8:13 (actually, 1:30 in the afternoon), Leon was obviously a mess and most definitely a hazard to himself and others around him. He was unkempt, aloof, dishevelled and not exactly very aware of certain things going on at The Fix. Axel was silently cursing Rinoa for turning his boss into an emo vegetable. Cloud kind of just kept his distance and entertained cheerless thoughts such as 'why is this world so unfair?' and 'this is a stupid world' and 'I hate the world' and 'I want to kill the world'.

At 8:13 (er, 2:00pm), Demyx pulled everyone aside (sans the boss) to discuss something.

"We should totally throw him a party."

"What?"

"You know, to cheer him up. We'll need it to be an _awesome_ party, n'est-ce pas?"

"Demyx? You used to be cool. What happened?"

"Don't be a spoilsport, Axy Waxy."

"Did you just call me—"

"We'll have it right here in The Fix! And we shall bring cake and cookies and little streamers and ribbons with glittery glitter. And we'll have loud music and free apple pies all on the house! And if we're feeling really generous, we'll buy Leon a huge bottle of expensive champagne, a tea set, lots of earl grey sachets and… Oh! Every single one of us will definitely have to bring permanent markers in black and red to, y'know, shamelessly decorate the outer walls of the Starbucks down the road! Specifically Sharpies. I _like_ Sharpies. We need to get our hands on some flippin' hardcore Sharpies. Although twenty cans of spray paint will do just fine. Whaddya say, guys?"

Sora sort of looked at Demyx with this wide expression of awe and admiration. "Dem? You come up with the _sickest_ ideas. Ever. Respect, bro. _Respect_!"

"I try," Demyx admitted modestly, ducking his head.

"I'll provide the alcohol," Axel said, raising a hand in the air.

"No alcohol, Ax," Demyx said firmly.

"Damn."

Cloud scoffed. Personally, he thought a party would be a ridiculous idea. I mean, he didn't even think Leon was in any way the sort of guy who went to social gatherings with a smile on his face. If anything, he was probably the type who'd just stand around in a lonely corner, sipping lukewarm wine and observing people on the dance floor with an unapproachable look on his face. But, Cloud figured that if a little festivity somehow managed to cheer him up, then maybe it was well worth it. "Alright, smartass," the blond snapped. "_When_ do you propose we hold this shindig?"

"Leave everything to me, Cloudy Skies."

Roxas frowned. "I hope you're not serious about the defacing Starbucks part."

Axel grinned. "I think we're going to take it _very_ seriously."

"They'll sue your fucking pants off."

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you, Rox?"

"_Shut your face_."

* * *

**8:13pm (5:23pm). **

The sky was just beginning to darken. The rain had died off into a light drizzle and The Fix was pretty much deserted. Not at all unusual at this hour.

And then, out of the blue, the front door crashed opened. Two people stepped in (somewhat mildly damp). One definitely male, the other possibly female. Both were blond. Both had identical smirks on their faces.

"'Sup, laaaaadies," the new guy drawled. It was a _scornful_ drawl.

Axel recognised both customers immediately. Only, of course, he knew quite well that they were _not_ here to be catered for.

"Oh, _shit_." Axel hissed, elbowing Cloud in the side. "I think you should _very_ quickly and discreetly go into the kitchen and keep the boss safely in there. I don't think he needs this. Might be bad."

Too late.

"YO, SQUALL!" the first speaker yelled. "I HAVE YOUR FUCKING RING. MY GIRL TOLD ME TO GIVE IT BACK TO YOU."

Cloud blanched.

They all heard the scraping of a chair in the back.

Demyx looked a little uneasy.

Sora and Roxas weren't actually sure what was going on and they had no idea why these two people in Starbucks uniforms were causing such a fuss. But Roxas, intelligent child that he was, knew something unpromising was about to happen.

Then, in one suspended moment whereby nobody said anything, the kitchen door swung open and Leon stepped out.

He regarded the newcomers almost apathetically, gaze cold.

"Almasy."

"Wow. You look like shit. You must be the famous Squally-poo."

"_Leon_."

"Heh. Whatever."

"_Whatever._"

"Oh. Right. She said that was your favourite word."

Leon's glassy eyes narrowed. Then he looked over at the quasi-female standing next to Seifer Almasy.

"Larxene."

"You remembered. That's nice, _boss_."

Seifer shrugged. "Actually, I just came here to tell you that I threw your ring in the trash. Hope you don't mind too much." And he started to laugh, like it was the funniest thing ever.

With barely concealed dislike, Axel stepped forward. He knew Leon was not exactly emotionally ready to beat a guy into the ground (in fact, Leon was probably on the verge of collapse). But the redhead definitely was.

"Hey, asshole. Yeah, you. You've made your point. If you don't fucking _scram_, I'm gonna kick seven shades of _shit_ out of you."

"Language, Onér," Larxene tsked.

"Back off, you bug-like twat."

"You wanna go, red?" Seifer growled, baring his teeth.

"I'll fucking _take_ you there," Axel snarled back.

"Oooh. Sounds like a _challenge_. You don't look like much. I could probably snap your scrawny ass in half."

"I'll maim you," Axel promised him. "Just like what those Happy Tree Friends do to each other."

"Is that a threat? I'm soooo scared."

"Easy, Axel," Cloud muttered when Axel took a menacing step forward. "These are Starbucks prats."

Axel sneered. "Yeah. They see stars out of earning your bucks."

"Oh really?" Larxene snorted, highly amused. "You come up with that all by your lonesome, dear? Clever, aren't ya? Cuz I never knew that."

"WELL GET IT MEMORIZED, BITCH."

"You losers are a joke," Seifer waved a hand around. "Caffeine _Fixation_? Stupidest name I've ever heard. And you guys actually brew _coffee_? What a riot, Squally-poo."

"Shut the hell up, man," Cloud managed, getting a little pissed. "Our coffee-making is _serious fucking business_."

It was now quite clear that at certain instances when desperate times called for hostile measures, Cloud and Axel, the two who've been working under Leon for so long now, were obviously pretty damn loyal to their boss and would actually come to his defense when the situation arose.

"Ooooh, blondie's a tough guy."

"I seriously think you should _shut the fuck up_."

"Oh my, Strife's got a backbone!" Larxene exclaimed in mock-astonishment.

Cloud clenched a fist and strode forward, planting his feet right beside Axel. There was a dark, stormy expression on his face.

Suddenly, the catchy bass beats of Queen's _Another One Bites the Dust _started to emanate around the bar.

After a few bewildered moments, Seifer realised his phone was going off. He answered it hastily, knowing that his ringtone had probably lessened, maybe even _killed_, the portentous mood in the room.

"Yeah? Almasy speaking. Oh hey. Yeah. Yeah. Done. Totally. _Yeees_, it's safe with him. We're actually just about to leave. No, I won't say hi to him for you… _What_?! Er, no, I don't know if he wants to speak to you… Uh… Okay. Right. You too. Bye."

Seifer pocketed his phone and glanced back at Leon, who had stood silent and still at the same spot since exiting the kitchen.

"Rinoa says hi. And she's very in love with _me_. And we're _leaving_. Good bye."

Before Seifer grabbed Larxene to leave, Axel yelled, "I sincerely hope to God the very next cab you take spontaneously combusts and crashes into a fucking ditch!"

Seifer flipped him the bird and swung the door open.

Without warning, Sora screamed after them, grabbing the chrome straw holder from the counter and waving it madly in the air. "THAT'S RIGHT, FLEE, YOU SLIMY COWARDS! COME BACK HERE EVER AGAIN AND IMMA GIVE YOU A BOOT TO THE HEAD. CAFFEINE FIXATION PRIDE, MAN."

The door slammed shut.

Almost everyone, apart from an extremely pumped Sora, breathed a huge sigh of relief.

After a few moments of silence, Cloud looked up and glared at Axel.

"I don't get why you gotta be the big damn hero all the time."

Axel shrugged and grinned a little. "Like the kid said, Strifey. Caffeine Fixation pride, man."

Cloud exhaled and shook his head. "Yeah," he grudgingly agreed quietly. "Caffeine Fixation pride."

And there could have been a smile on his face.

* * *

_**Author's note:**__ WHO KICKS A DOG WHEN IT'S DOWN? DEFEND THE LEONHART. AR._

_So, I guess this means I've revived YDCF. :D Genre-switching is tough. Been writing many different angsty, tragic, weird, horrific, death-filled fics for the past few months. I hope I haven't lost my touch at humour. D:_

_Also, much love to those who've stuck by this story since The Beginning. YOU ALL GET COOKIES. _

_For the curious, there'll be some Axel/Roxas conflict and Cloud/Leon bonding next chapter. And Sora calls Riku. :D_

_Reeeview? :)_


	11. Chapter 11: CINNAMON POWDER

_**Author's Note: **__Thanks to those of you who sent me PMs. You guys're totally the coolest people on the planet. (: And, of course, many thanks to the following reviewers: __**Lindoreda, Faeries-Landing, Emerald Moonrose, MadeInHolland, MuffinCatEars, Iron Serenity, Insanecat6, Aindel S. Druida, Tysonkaiexperiment, b4k4 ch4n, SarahXxUnlovedxX, Nierx, MizzMoris, sad kuroneko, 'm2lay-z2login, DEMONICWALRUS, Shiitarded, Staple Queen, Christy-Sama, bookwrm21, 0o0-The-Melodious-Nocturne-0o0, OMFG, 13loves8loves9loves6, Wind In Your Whiskers, Empty Melodies, Bloodtalon-IG, judikickshiney, StrayValkyrie, UberBex, Kyuuten-syx, YOUR #1 FAN, A Musical Epilogue, zxMeghanxz, SporkFilledDeath345, Apple Junkie O.o, L Lexuran, Isabella and me, Yunie Tatlin, Carmenliana **__and __**Axurel.**__ You all get free humpback whales!  
_

_(((Go on YouTube, look for Angel8686's __**Doin' things my own way! **__video and _watch it_ before actually reading this. 8D Seriously, I played it over and over again as I wrote this chapter. It's freakin' awesome.)))_

* * *

**Chapter 11 – Cinnamon Powder**

**Cinnamon:** _(noun) _Aromatic bark of the Ceylon cinnamon tree used as a common culinary spice; often ground into a powder.  
**Powder: **_(noun) _Any dry, solid substance that is reduced to a state of fine, loose particles by pounding, grinding or crushing.  
**Cinnamon Powder:** _(noun)_ It's what Cloud's apartment smells like, if you really wanted to know. Weird, I know. But you see, the previous owner of the flat (some crazy old geezer known only as C. Highwind) had hidden an envelope of cinnamon powder under a loose tile somewhere. To this day, Cloud has yet to successfully locate it.

"_**Banana Phone."**_

It was the end of a long, exceedingly eventful day. A long, exceedingly eventful _Sun_day (which was rare, in any case). The rainstorm had more or less dissipated some time in the afternoon, clearing the now-purpling sky of its heavy cumulonimbus, leaving the streets damp, muggy and just mildly desolate. The suburb of Sundown got relatively quiet by the time evening came around and all of the neighbouring stores down this end of the street had already closed several hours before, with the exception of _Caffeine Fixation_, the _I Killed Kenny_ convenience store, _xxxALCOHOLiC Liquor_ and the gaudily neon-signed _Adults Anonymous_ that sold all sorts of interesting toys and paraphernalia pertaining to the tastes of kinky adventure-seekers.

Sometime after the final customer (a shady individual with dodgy golden eyes and a serious penchant for elongated, time-consuming conversations that went nowhere) had exited the coffee bar and disappeared into the cold lonely night, Leon decided that enough was enough and gave his faithful staff specific instructions to cease operations and put up the _'I'm sorry. We're CLOSED!'_ sign for all the world to see. Following this, the routine wipe-down and till count ensued. Demyx had left a while ago (just after the whole Starbucks Invaders fiasco had ended), claiming he had an early class the next day. Of course, he could've left whenever he wanted. Sunday _was_ his day off, after all. It still mystified some as to why he stayed in the first place.

Cloud Strife was, at this moment, sluggishly clearing out the register, whistling softly to an erratic tune that sounded vaguely like the Macarena. Sora Vaïve and Roxas Montana were diligently cleaning up in the kitchen. Axel Onér was, strangely enough, nowhere to be seen. Five minutes ago, he'd pleaded with Leon for a "much-needed cigarette break". Leon didn't really care and let him go. He didn't think the redhead would be coming back into the bar until the sun rose again. And for the record, he was right about that.

Everyone could very well hear Sora's loud singing from within the kitchen whilst he performed his simple task of stacking glasses and storing mugs in the cabinets. He was belting out strange lyrics—something about not needing stupid books because they were meant for pretty crooks. His voice was slightly off-key, but he didn't seem to notice because he was on cloud nine, with a huge ass smile on his face that was right now freaking Roxas out.

"_Imma troublemaker, never been a faker. Doin' things my own way, never givin' uuuuup." _

After painfully enduring Sora's odd behaviour for almost a record full minute, the blond very quickly decided to throw out the garbage to inadvertently escape his best friend's verbal torture. He excused himself for a moment as he emptied the bin, dragging the bag of rubbish out through the back door, slamming it behind him and cutting off Sora's incessant crooning. (_"I'm gonna be a rockstar, and you will go to bed with me—"_)

Sighing in relief at the sudden muted silence out here in the narrow, semi-lit alley, Roxas traipsed the short distance over to the dumpster and flung the cumbersome bag full of used plastic cups, chewed straws and milk cartons over the edge of the huge container. A frumpy black cat hissed irritably at him from the shadows and streaked past his legs, darting out of the way and around the corner onto the main street.

And _that_ was when Roxas realised that the alley smelt strongly of cigarette smoke.

Which was not a good sign, if you think about it from his perspective.

"Hey there, sexy."

… _Shit._

Roxas fought the overwhelming urge to kick the unoffending dumpster in front of him (he decided that displaying a violent tantrum was somehow immature and beneath him and would most likely take twenty respect points off his metaphysical point-collecting system). Instead he turned calmly on the spot and squinted through the darkness, spotting none other than his worst nightmare, in all his pale and beanpole-tall glory, leaning against the gritty brick wall of the back alley, a glowing cigarette between two slender fingers. The posture he exhibited made him look very much like a tacky male prostitute to Roxas.

"Oh. It's you," the blond managed apathetically, eyes dimming.

Axel smirked, flicking ash to one side. _Oh yes_, the kid was warming up to him alright. Or maybe he'd just given up trying to fend him off. Either way, he could sense a change in demeanour in the boy. Very soon, the redhead figured Roxas would throw in the towel and somehow discover that he couldn't get enough of the irresistible Axel Muriel Onér**¹**. Whatever the case, the kid didn't seem to want to rip his arm off and use his fingers to strangle him to death after he'd just called him 'sexy'—a threat previously mentioned a few days back.

"C'mere a sec. I wanna talk to you."

At this, scepticism lit up like fire in the boy's brilliant blue eyes. "How about _no_?" Roxas deadpanned.

"I don't bite, you know?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Sure fooled me."

Axel grinned as he regarded the boy silently for a moment from the corner of his eyes. Then, he took one last drag on his cigarette, threw it to the floor and crushed it under his shoe. Turning abruptly to face Roxas, he moved and closed the distance between them in four quick strides.

"Let's play a quick little game, shall we?" the redhead said as he came to an abrupt stop a little ways away from the boy. "Truth or dare, Roxy?"

Roxas Montana frowned. Truth or Dare? He hadn't subjected himself to the horrors of this juvenile pastime in years. The last time he played, he'd had to eat out of Pluto's bowl as an impromptu dare. That had been at his sister's thirteenth birthday party. Of course, being the then-overconfident pubescent teenage adolescent he was, he attempted the challenge without much thought. He discovered pet food tasted like unsalted popcorn and aluminium foil. He then spent the following three minutes throwing up the entire contents of his stomach whilst everyone just watched, pointed and laughed like it was the funniest thing they'd ever witnessed.

Once bitten, twice shy. Roxas would _never_ pick Dare again.

"Truth."

He subconsciously wondered why he was even playing along with this self-confessed flexisexual freak. Of course he had nothing against homos/bis/trans/whatevers. He _did_ have something against Axel, though. The guy was an entirely different matter altogether.

Either way, it was obvious that Axel seemed to read Roxas' mind, figuring him to be the Truth type. The redhead grinned a wicked grin. "Okay. So… yes or no?"

Roxas blinked, waited for a few more moments, gave Axel a strange look. "What's the question?"

"Yeeees? Or noooo?" Axel repeated slowly.

"_That_ was the question?"

"Yes," Axel bobbed his head in confirmation, then added, "_Or no?_"

"That doesn't even make any sense!"

Axel sighed mock-exasperatedly. "Don't be difficult, kiddo."

Roxas glared, wanting very much to stamp his feet indignantly. "_Fine_. No."

Axel nodded and took a small step back. "Okay. Fair enough. Your go."

_What? _Roxas crossed his arms, eyes narrowing. There was some kind of catch here. He was pretty sure he was being played. "Truth or dare?" he said through gritted teeth.

"Dare."

"Good. I _dare_ you to leave me the hell alone."

"Can't," Axel shook his head. "Sorry. I forfeit. Make me sing."

"Complicated. _Avril Lavigne_," Roxas all but snarled.

"Oh? You really wanna make me sing that?"

"… On second thought, _no_."

"WHY'D YA HAFTA GO'N MAKE THINGS SO COM-PLEE-KAY-TED—"

"Oh, dear Lord," the poor boy whispered to himself, looking to the heavens above. He hastily pictured the face of an old, bearded man with flowing white hair and an appearance similar to that of Gandalf the Grey and thought, _if there is a God up there, please, I implore you, sir, smite this outrageous jackass down._

"—SEE THE WAY YOU'RE ACTIN' LIKE YOU'RE SOMEBODY ELSE—"

Roxas snapped. He stepped forward, grabbed Axel by the collar, sharply yanked him down to eye level and growled rather dangerously into his face in an I-will-now-prooceed-to-extort-twenty-million-in-cash-from-you-you-dirtbag voice.

"I. Want _you_. To shut. The hell. _Up_."

He rather hoped it would work the way it should.

However, Axel, oblivious to the more-than-threatening lilt in Roxas' voice (or maybe he just didn't quite care too much because it sounded so goddamn erotic coming from his mouth), grinned rather stupidly. This was mainly due to their current physical proximity, which made Axel's brain whir with all sorts of strange ideas. Said brain was now entertaining certain thoughts about which one of them would be the dominant one in a relationship. Because, to be honest, Axel didn't see the kid being the submissive type.

"Y'know Roxy, you make things _so_ complicated," he barely whispered.

Roxas scowled and pushed him away. "Ditto," he muttered darkly.

Axel smiled and adjusted his shirt pointlessly. "Your cynicism makes you insanely attractive."

"I'm _so_ glad you think so."

"See what I mean?"

Roxas glared. "Are we still playing or can I go back in so that Sora can make my ears bleed and skin crawl?"

"Mmm," the redhead hummed lightly. "My turn, isn't it? Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Roxas groused.

"Yes or no?"

"What the fuck, man?" _Are you freaking retarded? What is this yes or no crap?_

"I'm sorry. 'What the fuck, man' is not a valid answer. Yes or no?"

Roxas didn't know what else to say. He'd already gone with 'no' and nothing actually happened. So he went the other way and said _very_ cautiously: "Yes…?"

And that was when Axel swooped down and mashed his lips against Roxas' in a determined kiss.

It was impressive and spectacular and passionate, all at the same time.

The very first thing Roxas registered was the fact that he could quite suddenly taste the lingering hints of burnt tobacco and cigarette smoke. Now, Roxas had never tried puffing on a cigarette in all the years of his youth, so it wasn't unusual to say that he found the aftertaste rather interesting and well, _different_. And then, when his brain finally caught up with him, he realised (with a rather large dose of horror) exactly what was happening and he figured this wasn't the best time to be pondering about the fascinating taste of tobacco. After all, there was a terrible, terrible man locking lips with him right now in a highly provocative manner.

And Roxas, to put it very mildly, wasn't amused by this. No, no he wasn't. Actually, he was quite positively livid. Largely due to the fact that the redhead was now relentlessly trying to slip him some tongue.

The _bastard_.

Instead of inflicting some pain by slamming his jaws down on the warm, slippery length of muscle (which, in retrospect, he totally _should_ have done, but Roxas wasn't thinking very straight (no pun intended)), the blond shoved Axel away, turned his head to one side, spat viciously and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, all the while glaring at the redhead in an I-want-to-smash-your-face-in-just-so-that-smirk-of-yours-turns-into-the-ultimate-grimace-of-pain-and-agony manner. His face burned hotly and he hoped to Gandalf that Axel couldn't see that.

"You asshole! That was sexual harassment."

"You said yes."

"TO A QUESTION THAT MADE ENTIRELY NO SENSE WHATSOEVER."

"Oh, shush. Just admit it. You enjoyed it."

Roxas managed to look incredulous for just a split second.

"You were kissing back, after all," Axel was blabbing madly, nervous triumph running through his veins like sparks and fireworks. "Like, before you decided you had enough and pushed me away and all. Too much for you, huh? Yeah, I _totally_ have that effect on people."

Now, Roxas looked on the verge of killing something.

"I WAS NOT KISSING BACK."

"I'm pretty sure you were—"

"_NOT_."

"Oh, jeez, Roxy. Chill! Don't make a fuss!" the redhead chided. "It's just a _game_, after all. It didn't _mean_ anything."

There was a suspended silence that could've meant the world stopped for a couple of seconds.

Then Axel laughed a short laugh and backpedalled abruptly to check his watch. "Well," he said slowly, "time to knock off, I reckon. S'getting late. Catch ya later, sugar lips. Nighty night." And smiling an infuriatingly broad smile, the redhead sauntered off down the alley and turned the corner that led out to the main street, leaving Roxas standing alone, in the semi-darkness, breathing heavily and feeling undeniably peeved.

Very, _very_ undeniably peeved.

* * *

So, 8:40pm found everyone parting ways. Leon and Cloud were the last to leave, really, Cloud being the one with the keys to lock up because of his early shift the next day and Leon just moping around as though waiting for the earth to swallow him up (and that possibly had connotations of Hell, but he didn't quite mind brimstone and ash right now).

In the end, the boss was quite belatedly mortified to find that, upon finally reaching his beloved car, someone had let all the air out from his tyres. Every single one of them.

They were all flat.

"_Shiiiit_."

Cloud, already seven-and-a-half paces away from the vicinity of The Fix and on his merry way back home, cast a look back at Leon curiously. He didn't want to _say_ anything to the man, just in case he managed to say the _wrong_ thing that would make him want to shoot himself in the temple later on, but there was just some vulnerable and _I-need-some-fucking-Prozac_ quality about the way Leon had mumbled that expletive. It drove Cloud to open his mouth and speak. "You seem to be saying that a lot today. What now?"

Leon gestured helplessly at his Volvo. Cloud sauntered over to take a closer look. Despite the obvious fact that the car was illegally parked over double yellow lines on the ground…

_Oh, wait, I see the other problem now. Wow. Some fucker has it in for the Leonhart. Honestly, that's just low. Looooooow._

"Oh," the blond finally said, mouth catching up with his brain.

Leon threw his hands up into the air irately. "Oh? _Oh_ is not a suitable reaction to this atrocity, Cloud Strife."

Cloud blinked. Then he remembered that Leon was not quite himself and was going through a decidedly unstable phase of depression and general self-loathing. So, he sighed and figured he should at least be a little helpful and supportive of his boss, despite the fact that he was terribly in love and/or infatuated with said boss and thus wanted nothing to do with him lest he endured further personal shame and disgrace.

"You know what I think?" he said after a moment's inner conflict. "I _think_ Larxene and that ugly Almasy guy are the bitches to blame."

"Assholes," Leon muttered.

"I concur."

Leon shook his head miserably and cast his eyes to the floor. "I live ten miles away. I don't even have a phone to call a cab because I murdered it. This is the worst day of my entire fucking life." The man's frame collapsed against the side of his sedan and his shoulders sagged jadedly. "I think the Big Man up there hates me and my sad existence."

Cloud looked a little uncomfortable at Leon's sudden bout of hopeless admission. The boss never really had many direct conversations with him outside of work. And the boss never seemed like a religious fellow either, so it was extremely weird that he was talking about God (or at least he figured 'Big Man' equalled 'God' in Leon's dictionary). The blond looked down the dark street and thought for a moment, then finally decided to dig his own grave by being chivalrous. Hey, it couldn't get any worse than this, right? Besides, he couldn't let his employer suffer unnecessarily. It wasn't in his partially-humanitarian nature to do such an awful thing. Also, he got his much-needed salary from the guy, too. And that counted for something.

"Look, uh, Leon?" he said at last, tactfully keeping his voice emotionless and taciturn. "My place is like, a ten minute walk from here. Do you... d'you wanna crash there tonight? I've got room. You can have the couch. And… you can… you can call up some people tomorrow morning to, uh, fix up your car, or something. Yeah?"

Leon looked up at Cloud, a strange expression crossing his face.

"Seriously?"

Cloud swallowed. "Yeah. Seriously. It's no big deal," he heard himself say, and he wondered if he'd just deepened his metaphorical tomb.

There was a short, contemplative silence. Cloud held his breath for what seemed like eternity.

Then Leon spoke again.

"That's… real cool. Thanks, man."

"Yeah. Yeah, no problem."

They lingered around the injured Volvo for a few more awkward moments before wordlessly setting off in the direction of Cloud's rundown apartment.

_No problem? _Cloud was reprimanding himself. _I am such a fucking moron._

* * *

Meanwhile, Sora and Roxas were now well on their way towards their million-dollar homes in the opposite direction. They were engaged in a Highly Intellectual Discussion whilst they strolled along the intermittently-lit sidewalk. Actually, they were just talking about aptitude and intellect in general. Both boys weren't quite paying attention to the conversation anyway, being somewhat lost in their own little worlds at the moment.

"I am seriously beginning to doubt your intelligence, Sor," Roxas was saying distractedly as they jaywalked across the street blindly without looking for oncoming traffic (because they believed themselves to be Supermen and didn't need to obey stupid things such as simple road rules). Sora had just previously been prattling on about the solubility of candy canes in sodium bicarbonate and how they tasted exactly like peppermint gum.

"Aren't you always doin' it anyway, Rox?" Sora retorted, skipping ahead a few steps like he was halfway through a major hopscotch tournament.

Roxas looked wary for a split second. "What's got you so happy-yappy, man?"

Sora nearly tripped as he rounded on Roxas. "What's got _you _so crossy-wossy?" he countered.

Roxas slowed to stare incredulously at his friend. _Crossy-wossy?_

Sora turned to look back into his friend's face in an unnerving manner. "Uh-oh. I recognise that sullen, housewifey look from back in grade six, when you fell in love with that Olette girl and she ran off with that Gayner guy."

"Hayner Gai," Roxas corrected, frowning, wondering just what the hell Sora was getting at.

"Whatever," the brunet said, waving Roxas' silly comment aside. "Point is, your lack of disagreement towards my shameless claim portends the indisputable fact that you are, in all probability, head over heels with a forbidden individual. Tell me, Roxas, are you, perchance, in love?"

This was the last straw. Roxas couldn't take it anymore.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH _SORA_?"

Sora giggled. "I ate him, spat his bones out and turned them into model airplanes."

"Well _that_ explains _everything_."

"Word," Sora nodded wisely. "So, dude. Like, seriously. You in love or what, my good man?"

"That should be the question I should be asking _you_, seeing as you're totally _speaking in_ _tongues_ and acting like you've just won the lottery."

Sora grinned happily. "_Woooord_."

"Oh God," Roxas muttered. "You _are_ in love."

The brunet ignored him and continued to skip. _"I'm a troublemaker, KEEP IT ON THE UP!" _he sang randomly.

The blond sighed at his Best Friend Forever. _Yep, he's definitely gaga over somebody._

"Shut up, Sor."

Sora twirled on the spot. "I love you too, Rox."

* * *

Cloud frowned as he poked around the linen closet and got out some sheets and a pillow for his new guest; the _first guest_ to ever actually sleep over at his insignificant little hovel he called home.

He came back to the living room. Leon hadn't moved an inch from where the blond had left him on the semi-clean red-black textile couch in front of the television. In fact, Leon was staring disinterestedly at his knees.

"Hey."

Leon grunted and looked up blearily.

Cloud pursed his lips uncertainly and handed the sheets over to Leon. Their fingers made contact for a split second and Cloud, in a sudden fit of surprise and alarm, _almost_ decided to relinquish his hold on the sheets altogether by throwing them at the man. Thankfully, he wasn't such a freak and calmed down fast enough to be able to proceed to mope inwardly about it.

Leon, of course, didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, mainly because he was quietly wondering to himself, at that precise moment, if his car was even covered by insurance. Also, he was trying to figure out if his girlfriend—pardon me, _ex_-girlfriend—went for guys with prominent scars on their foreheads or something. Because it seemed to be the trend nowadays for women to go after men with visible facial blemishes and/or deformities.

Cloud took a seat tentatively next to Leon, careful to leave enough of a gap between them on the couch so he could think semi-coherently.

The two young gentlemen sat in silence for awhile, thinking separate thoughts. Very different subject matter floated around in each of their heads lethargically, sure, but the general theme was there: _Life sucks right now_ _for me. Boo hoo_. _Fucking hell, get a grip on yourself. You're a grown man sitting next to another grown man. Don't want him to start thinking you're weird now, do you?_

Cloud snapped out of his self-conscious reverie first, glanced aloofly at Leon from the corner of his eyes, registered that Leon was swaying a little on the couch, shrugged absent-mindedly and, eventually, opened his mouth to speak.

"You, er, want some dinner? I've got some leftover KFC in the fridge."

Leon took a long while to answer, as though he were pondering the question very carefully (actually, he was just running the question through his mind several times because he didn't really understand it the first time). Finally, he came to a highly complicated conclusion. "I'm… not hungry."

"Oh. Oh, right." Cloud fidgeted awkwardly. "Sure."

The blond figured it was a good thing Leon refused, because he believed the leftover KFC to be about two-and-a-bit weeks old and was probably now the home to a garden of mould and a plethora of other assorted kinds of fungi. He figured he should really throw it out or something.

Two minutes of utter silence stretched between them.

Finally, not being able to help himself, Cloud coughed delicately and asked, "Hey. You okay?"

"_No_," Leon snapped quite abruptly, looking annoyed. "_Stop babying me_."

Cloud recoiled slightly, feeling like he'd been kicked.

Leon looked away sheepishly. "Sorry."

"S-s'okay." Cloud thought hard for a moment, scratched his head uneasily. "Er, I have… um. I'm gonna go get something. Wait here."

Cloud stood up and lumbered over to his kitchenette. There were sounds of a cupboard opening and some light clinking of glass on glass.

He came back with a dusty bottle of cheap tequila and two slightly-chipped shotglasses, settled himself down onto the floor and placed them on the coffee table by the couch. Then he looked up at Leon. "Couldn't find salt or lime. But I think we should be able to manage."

Leon wordlessly watched as Cloud unstoppered the tequila bottle and the poured out two shots gracefully.

He gave one to Leon, who took it without question, then held up his glass with purposeful reverence.

"Here's to fucked up relationships and botched luck," the blond declared to no one in particular.

Leon slowly raised his, too, a resolute glint in his eye. "Here, here," he agreed.

And without further prompting, they both downed their shots in one go like professionals.

* * *

It was half past nine, or somewhere thereabouts. Sora was in his room, getting ready for bed.

Well no, that's a big fat lie. He was actually bouncing up and down excitedly around his room. In one hand, he held the piece of scrap paper he got from Demyx this afternoon, in the other, he held his phone. He was vibrating with visible excitement.

For the record, Sora didn't waste any time with internal debates and private _What-Am-I-Going-To-Say-To-Him?_ pep talks. He just wasn't the type of person to do that. He was the kind of person who just rushed headlong into situations, and no matter how much he bumbled and fumbled, he somehow always ended up getting away with murder. Too many humans of this world believed Sora was the child of Lady Luck herself. So, inhaling once, the brunet quickly dialled the number and put the phone to his ear, then impatiently threw himself onto his king-sized bed (covered in yellow stars and blue rocket-ships) and waited with bated breath.

It rang several times. Each passing second got Sora more and more anxious and edgy. It was like waiting for the final card in a Poker game to be flipped when there was a Royal Flush at stake.

_Finally_, he got someone's voicemail inbox.

"Hiiiii. You've just reached Haley J. Osment. I'm like, not available right now, probably out drinking with McCartney or Gallagher somewhere. Please hold and record your message after the… _beeeeeeeeeep_." **²**

"Damn." Sora ended the bizarre call, figuring his fingers had dialled the wrong number.

He tried again.

This time, someone picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" It was a low, husky voice. A low, husky _and_ familiar voice. Bingo!

"Hiiiii. This is Sora Vaïve. Is this, uh, Riku… Mesna?" he asked, squinting at the tiny writing on the piece of paper in his hand and hoping he got the last name right.

There was a brief silence on the other end, and then the ambiguous sound of someone doing a complete three-sixty on a roller chair. Then, there was discernable relief in the words that followed. "_Sora_. Man. And here I was thinking you'd never call me back. That, or I figured the weird guy at the counter didn't bother giving you my number."

Sora grinned madly, completely falling in love with the guy's voice all over again. "Yeah, well he kinda forgot. But he finally remembered."

"Well, it's a good thing he did."

Sora laughed as butterflies fluttered around in his ribcage like a snowstorm of insects on Red Bull. He absently twiddled with the corner of his pillow.

"I never really got to thank you properly. For saving my life."

"All I did was bully another bully."

"Meaning you saved my life," Sora insisted. "At least, in my book it is. So thanks, man."

"Honestly, it was my pleasure."

"Soooo, what're you up to?" Sora decided to start on a safe topic on conversation. Who knew where this could lead?

"Studying up on the lymphatic system. Really boring stuff."

"Oh. Right. You're doing medicine at UT."

"Wow, you've got an amazing memory," Riku marvelled. "And yeah. Gonna be a doctor. Hopefully."

"I don't know many people in the medical field…" Sora mulled this thought over and racked his brains. "Does Gregory House count?"

"Hugh Laurie? He's an actor, not a real doctor."

"Dr. Pepper?"

"Nope."

"Doc Martens!"

"That's a brand name."

"Oh."

"But it was developed by a guy who _was_ a doctor in the 1940s… so I guess you're half right."

Sora beamed. Roxas didn't need to doubt his intelligence after all. He heard Riku shift around some books from across the receiver and disjointedly realised that the two of them were talking like they've known each other for years and years and were über-best friends.

"Y'know, I'm still really surprised you called," the older boy said.

Sora snuggled his face into his pillow. "It'scuzyou'reinsanelygorgeous," he garbled into the soft padding of the cushion. He recalled the day Riku came to his rescue and pictured him posing majestically in a superhero outfit—just like in his comic books—his cape and hair flowing behind him in the well-timed, non-existent breeze.

"Sorry?"

"I really like your hair," Sora covered up instantly.

"My hair."

"Your hair," Sora affirmed.

"Well, _you've_ got craaazy hair," Riku said.

"I don't use L'Oréal, or whatever shampoo you use to make your hair all shiny and pretty."

Riku tsked. "Don't start. Your hair looks awesome the way it is, in my humble opinion."

Sora grinned and rolled over, staring up at the ceiling. He considered his following question very carefully before asking it out loud.

"So, what made you so sure?"

"Hmm?"

Riku obviously didn't understand his cryptic question, so he tried again. "What made you so sure I wasn't some straight twelfth grade kid who'd flip out and think you're a huge homo freak for giving me your number together with a suggestive note that could've meant anything from 'I like you, please be my boyfriend' to 'I know you're outrageously rich therefore being friends with you might benefit me'?"

There was a short pause on the other end as the listener took this all in and digested it. And then, said listener burst out laughing. It sounded like music to Sora's ears.

"Okay, okay. _So_," the older boy said, now calming down and trying to sound as serious as possible. "In _other_ words, I believe you want to know what made me so sure you were a crazy gay kid who, by the way, totally enjoys confusing other people with his extremely long questions. Am I right?"

"Something like that," Sora nodded, then realised Riku couldn't see him nodding. "Yeah."

"I knew," Riku replied. "Well, about the part where you're gay, anyways, not that other bit. I mean, _I read your shoes_."

Sora whooped. "I knew it!"

It should now be made known that Sora wore a pair of black Converse chucks wherever he went. Even to school. It was customized with his very own pastel pink-purple graffiti. It said 'G.A.Y.' on the left side of the left shoe and 'P.R.I.D.E.' on the right side of the right shoe. And there were little doodles of overlapping male gender symbols all over the front. This was possibly the sole reason why Roxas felt the over-protective need to follow his friend _everywhere_. Because Roxas believed that _some_ people out there were just too backward to realise homophobia was stupid. (In the actual words of the knowledgeable blond: "Homosexuality is not a disease. It's the other way around, man. _Homophobia_ is the fucking disease." True facts.)

"Yeah. They caught my eye, and I really liked them," Riku said truthfully. "Very artistic."

"Serious? My best friend thinks they're way too ostentatoes, or whatever that word he used was."

"Ostentatious?"

"Yeah! That's the one."

Riku laughed again. "You're really cute, you know?"

Sora blushed at this. "So… you're definitely a homo too, then?" he mumbled.

"Hmmmmm."

"I'm still not sure," the boy went on quickly. "Like, you haven't actually told me outright."

"Would you _like_ me to be gay?"

"Uhhhh, am I allowed to be selfish?"

"Yes."

"Then I don't _want_ you to be gay. Nor do I want you to be straight."

"Huh. I can see where you're getting at. Vaguely."

Sora smiled. "What I want is for you to be—"

"Yours?"

"—_happy_."

Silence.

"… Close enough," Riku said.

The brunet put two and two together. "That settles it! Riku, I'm yours, you're mine. You're happy, I'm happy. So let's be _boyfriends_," he almost shouted. His next-door neighbour probably heard him. (It was a good thing Roxas lived at least three doors down).

"Wow. You get straight to the point, don't you?" Riku responded. "When you're not deviating off track, that is," he added.

"Sorry, I'm uh, not one for all the beating around the bush stuff," Sora said, abashed. "Y'know, foreplay."

"Never figured."

"Mmm. So, yes? No?"

"Yes no what?"

"Booooyfriend."

"Oh God, _yes_."

"Sure? Don't want you backing out and dumping my cute, juvenile ass."

"… Sora? Seriously? I think I'm in love with you. And every time you open your mouth to say something, I fall even _more_ in love with you."

"Aren't _we_ full of cheese today," Sora teased.

"It gets worse," Riku said, voice taking on a serious tone. "Do you like flowers, Sora?"

"Huh? Yeah. I do. Especially pretty, flowery ones."

"What's your favourite?"

"SUNFLOWERS!"

"Sunflowers. I can _so _see that as your type."

"Really? Wait. _Why _are we talking about flowers?"

Riku sighed. "Never mind, Sora."

"… You're gonna get me some, aren't you?"

"Shhh, you'll ruin the surprise."

"Surprise? What surprise? I don't know nothin' about no surpise," Sora said innocently.

"Good."

And then, the young brunet involuntarily glanced at his Mickey Mouse clock—the one that was meant to be Roxas' Christmas present last year but he figured he'd keep it for himself because he _really_ liked it (he got Roxas a stuffed Winnie the Pooh toy instead).

"Oh. Dang. S'late."

"Hmm? Oh. You're right. And it's Monday tomorrow," Riku muttered. "You've got school, don't you?"

"Unfortunately."

"Will you be at The Fix after?"

"Yuppers! Around four-ish."

"I'll come 'round to visit," Riku promised.

"Sweeeeet!"

"Can't wait."

"Me neither!"

"See you, sunflower freak."

"Bye, stalker."

"Crazy bed head."

"L'Oréal addict."

"Damsel in distress."

"Big bully."

"Cute barista."

"Hot piece of ass."

"…"

"Too far?" Sora quipped.

"No. Not at all," Riku assured him. "Damn, you're way too adorable, Sora."

Sora grinned. "Go work on your lympathetic system, doc."

"G'night, Sora."

"Good night, Rikuuuu."

The call ended. And Sora was bursting with happiness.

* * *

An hour later found both Cloud and Leon on the floor, sitting opposite each other at the coffee table, just a tad bit intoxicated and woozy in the head. More than half the bottle of tequila was gone. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. For one, the alcohol had loosened their tongues, so they weren't just sitting in pathetic silence like they were before. Secondly, their thoughts were becoming increasingly incoherent.

Right about now, their conversation was taking a turn for the random.

"Parents more or less threw me out of the house once I dropped out of university," Cloud was saying smartly. "Okay, no, they didn't _throw_ me out. Not really, I just decided to leave because they didn't seem to like me there anyway. My big bro took care of me a li'l awhile after that – he let me bunk with him for a few months or sm'thing. Then, I wanted to get out of Zack's hair 'cuz I felt kinda bad. Plus he was this real weirdo of a fella, y'know what I mean? So… _so_ I went solo after getting enough money to pay for a one-room apartment. And—" he gestured languidly around him with one free hand, "—_here I am_."

"Sorry to hear that, man," Leon said dreamily. He took another look around the tiny apartment for the hundredth time and vaguely wondered how Cloud managed to survive here.

"S'okay. I've learnt to fend for myself," Cloud bubbled brightly. Maybe a little too brightly.

"Uh-huh."

There was a few minutes of silence as another two shots were poured (with slight difficulty). Cloud _thunk_ed the bottle back down and squirmed a little. The silence stretched on. The blond looked at Leon through a few stray wisps of his hair for a moment. "Well, uh, sorry 'bout Rinoa, man," he said and downed his shot, dropping his hand limply to stare at his glass. He felt a little dizzy. "Sucks to be you." _And me._

"I… yeah." Leon slurred bitterly as dry tequila slid down his own burning throat. After awhile, he continued. "I _loved_ her, man," he confessed brokenly. "I should like, like… like, I should just call her right now, like… just to hear her voice, yanno?" Leon fumbled for his phone in his pocket. Then he realised he threw it out his window that morning and heard it smash to pieces three storeys down. He made a frustrated noise that was halfway between a sob and a howl. Then, he remembered something and looked slowly and deliberately up at Cloud like he were some kind of saviour. "Hey. Can I, can I buh— boil your— uh, burrow— er, just- just give me your phone. Please?" he asked, blinking owlishly into Cloud's face.

Cloud was momentarily at a loss for words.

"_Gimme it_," Leon insisted.

"Leon," Cloud deliberately lowered his voice, suddenly feeling a lot more sober than he should actually be. "I don't… I don't think calling her would be such a good idea… right now."

Leon stared. Then, sighing in despair, he hung his head and stared down at the coffee table solemnly.

"You're right, man. Fuck. I'm so screwed over. _Fuck_."

_She screwed you over,_ Cloud wanted to say.

Another long silence took over. The blond busied himself by dispensing more shots, unintentionally spilling some on the surface of the table.

They both tilted their heads back and drank in unison.

After downing his shot, Leon slammed his glass down on the table, making the blond in front of him jump a foot into the air. "Yooou got a girlfriend, then?" the older man demanded, vision misty and distorted.

Cloud fidgeted and toyed with his shotglass, poking at it and watching it slide around the table. "Meh. Just recently found out that… that maybe I don't really swing that way. Girls, I mean." _Probably aaall Axel's doing, right from the start. Stupid buffalo queen_**³**_. _

Leon blinked, expression morphing into a highly perplexed frown. His brain was processing this new fact with utmost difficulty. Then, he finally spoke up. "You… you're… you're a… hemoglobius… thing. Er, hmmm…" He momentarily lost his train of thought. His mind was currently catching fairies in a field of flowers and plucking fruits from multi-coloured trees. "Rainboooows," he drawled, tracing patterns in the air with his half-lidded eyes. And then, his head slumped onto the coffee table, nearly bashing his face into his empty tequila glass.

Cloud looked tremendously amused at this display for a split second. Then just as quickly, he began freaking out and choked. "Are you dead?!"

He was rewarded with silence.

The blond leaned forward and cautiously poked at Leon's head. "Heeeey. _You there!_ Mister Sir. Too much t-tuhkillah? Are you? _Dead_? Answer me, man."

Leon groaned, head throbbing. "Whu-where's the bathroom?" he managed to outwardly convey his thoughts into the table.

Cloud backed up. "There's one d-down the… the hall thinger to your left. Er, right. No, _left_. Left. Yeah. Left."

"Coooool."

Leon slowly, very slowly, dragged himself upright and got to his feet unsteadily, rocking back and forth on his heels a little. He reached out to support himself on the arm of the couch. "You know what, Cuh-Clouuud?" he mumbled. "I think I'm… uh, I'm _drunk_."

Cloud somehow or other managed to find this outrageously funny, so he giggled. "No shit, _Shirley_. I think you _aaaare_."

Leon looked over at the blond. "So are _you_."

"How can you tell?"

"You're all ha ha ha giggle stort and snuff."

"No shit?"

"None."

"Hah. _Drunk_. _Me?_ Hah!" Cloud cackled, slapping a hand against the table loudly.

Leon took a shaky step toward the hall. "M'goin' to the… the… m'gonna go have a piss and wash up."

"Okaaaaaay."

The older man regarded Cloud for a suspended moment. "You… you should probably go get some sleep," he said finally.

"Right."

"Thanks for… for…" Leon gestured implicatively towards the sheets and pillow on the couch and then at the tequila bottle and empty shotglasses. "Y'know, babying me."

Cloud shrugged. His face went pink, but he figured it was just the alcohol. "Yeh."

"G'night, man."

"'Night."

Leon stumbled off to find the bathroom on his own to have a long shower.

* * *

**¹ **_Axel Muriel Onér – If anyone wanted to know, I stole his middle name from Chandler Bing. Chandler Muriel Bing. Whoever saw that episode of Friends gets massive props and a freaking huge candy cane.  
_

**² **_Haley Joel Osment, Jesse McCartney, David Gallagher. Go figure. If you can't, you fail. Epically._

**³**_ It should be obvious that at this point, Demyx has rubbed off on Cloud. So much so that Cloud thinks it's okay to steal Demyx's peculiar terms of endearment._

* * *

_**Author's note: **__See, there's a whole new side to these oddball characters. There's __**Drunk Leon and Cloud**__. And __**Cutesy, Non-Gangsta Sora**__. And then there's __**Sneaky Bastard Axel**__. Oh. Wait, Axel was always a sneaky bastard. My bad._

_As you can probably tell, this chapter was meant to highlight the 'bonding moments' of several couples. Or something like that. Thus the noticeable 'seriousness' (and in some cases, 'utter idiocy') plus the lack of nonsensical humour. I can see the gayness rolling in already. Finally._

_I want feedback! So review and stand a chance to win a free trip to Castle Oblivion! There, you'll be able to meet Mafia Boss Marluxia and his lackeys, including that sexy what's-his-name turncoat with the flaming hula hoops and that good-for-nothing scheming pansy with the kaput dictionary! Beats going to Disneyland hands down! Take __**that**__, Mickey Mouse. Disney Castle ain't got nothin' on Oblivion!_

_ALSO, WHAT'S EVERYONE DOING FOR VALENTINE'S DAY? 8DDD I WANT FLOWERS, GODDAMMIT. __**SUNFLOWERS.**_


End file.
